


Jared Padalecki and the Faith of the Feathered Serpent

by hunters_retreat



Series: The Jared Padalecki Adventure Series [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Archeologist Christian, Archeologist Jared, M/M, Mummy - Indiana Jones style Movie Remake, Past Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 06:50:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4819352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were legend, the Egyptologist with a love of mysteries and the General with a love of adventure.  Over the years they'd faced everything Egypt had to offer, never backing down and never giving in, until they'd tamed her secrets.  What happens when they find themselves leaving their home for the wonders of the new world in search of a missing colleague?  What happens when Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are surrounded by jungles and ruins and find the faith of the fallen serpent?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jared Padalecki and the Faith of the Feathered Serpent

 

 

  
   

[Master Art Post](http://inanna-maat.livejournal.com/80166.html)

 

  

 

  
  
  
They were legend.

 

One was handsome and talented and brilliant beyond comparison. He could read more than two dozen languages by the time they met and never stopped learning new ones. He was a master of lore and had a knowledge of customs that rivaled the natives. He had a love of Egypt and a love for the Egyptian Mummy, though that’s a tale you might have heard already.  
  
The other was cocky and brash. He could blend into the environment and leave nothing of himself behind. He was beautiful and street smart with a way of charming that seemed to come with the ease of breathing. He was a leader, a general of men, and a planner of battles. He loved adventure and never settled for long in the same place. There was only one thing he enjoyed more than solving a mystery and that was having someone to solve it with; a companion on the trail, the brain to his brawn, the knowledge to his instinct.

 

It’s easy to say that together they found a love that was beyond anything a mortal could dream of, but they were, neither of them, ordinary men.  Their love kept them both grounded, one from visions of places far away and adventures waiting to be found, and the other of a dark, cold past of oppressive halls and devotion without return.  
  
Together they were more than they could hope to be alone. But legend, as one liked to tell the other, grew with the telling.  Every person puts their own translation to a story, every person puts their stamp, and so it’s passed on from generation to generation, making the most harmless of stories dangerous, the darkest of gods benign, the most generous of gods evil.

 

This story is no different.  This is the story of a young Egyptologist and his brash adventurer, of how they came to find themselves in a country neither had ever known, and how they came to fight in a new world against the gods of old. 

 

This is the story of Jared Padalecki and the Faith of the Feathered Serpent.

 

 

 

 

 

The river was calm as he traversed its waters, the inhabitants sleeping gently beneath her surface and on her shores as he moved quietly past them.  As beautiful as it was, he didn’t pause for more than a moment.  It was best to leave sleeping alligators lie.  After all, this was just part of the journey, not the destination. 

The river gave way to jungle green and he walked the path with familiarity, untroubled by roots and stones that would have given him concern were he in the waking world.  The trees gave way to a clearing and it was there he got the first sight of the structure awaiting him.  Stone edifices and green jungle surrounded him and he was staggered by the beauty and danger that waited at every glance.

He let his fingers brush over stone; cool to the touch though he knew that it should be warm from the midday sun.  Such things happened to him like this.  He followed up the great stairs that had been built into the hillside, followed them to the highest point where the top of the buildings could be seen over the jungle canopy.

His vision flashed to night, to blood and pain, to fear and sacrifice, but only for a moment and he was standing still again under the warm sun.  There was something else there though, a presence that disturbed him when he knew that he should be relaxed and welcomed in that place.  The feeling grew as he walked among the carved stone lintels and friezes.  He let his fingers trace over the logo syllabic language, a written system that used both symbols and pictures to form a cohesive whole, but he wasn’t there to translate the beautifully carved stone.  Instead he continued on. 

The feeling of being watched never went away.  Something dark was drawing closer to him, searching for him.  He opened his arms, embraced the warmth of the sun against the feeling of darkness, knowing that whatever was searching wouldn’t stop so long as it was alive, but he didn’t give in to the need to hide.  He waited, sitting atop one of the greatest temples of the Mayan culture, for the darkness to find him.

 

 

 

“Jared?”

He opened his eyes, blinking a few times before he realized he was staring at the wood top of his desk.  He sat up slowly, registering in a distant way that he was in his study at the manor house.  He tried to hold onto the crisp clear images he’d seen in his vision, but it was already becoming faded and worn, like the manuscripts he attempted to decipher every day. 

“Jared, are you awake?”

The voice pulled at him and he turned to look up at the man standing in the doorway; sturdy khaki pants and a dark black shirt, heavy leather encircled his wrists where the shirt sleeves were pulled up to the elbow, soft full lips and green eyes that looked at him with concern.  Jared smiled at him, warm and inviting.  Even though Jensen had lived there for the past five years, he still considered Jared’s office as some sort of sacred space and refused to walk in without an invitation.  It was annoying and so overwhelmingly endearing he didn’t know how he lived with it most of the time.

“I am.  I’m not sure I should be.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Jensen confirmed with a smile.  “Come to bed.”

Jared closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his fingers tracing the edge of a photo he didn’t realize he’d been holding.  He tried to get a stronger hold of the vision but it wasn’t working.  Usually his visions were clear, but sometimes when his initial visions were based on something insubstantial, like the photo, they weren’t as focused upon waking.

“Jared?  Was it a vision?”

He didn’t answer right away.  It wasn’t exactly a trick question but it was always hard to gauge how Jensen would take his answer.  Not that he blamed him, considering he’d had a vision of Jensen five years back that had changed both their lives.  Most times, Jensen found it easy to remember the good.  On rare occasions though, Jensen was pulled away from the world he now lived in, reminded of a life long past where people bled for him, where they died for him in a gesture that he never felt he deserved.  During those times Jensen seemed to bleed away himself, leaving behind only the General he had once been. 

Jared nodded slowly as he set the photo down.  “Chris sent me this photo.  I was just looking at it, refreshing my memory on the language when I must have fallen asleep.”

   
  
 

Jensen nodded, but held out his hand.  “If you’re that tired, come to bed.”

Jared set the photo down gently on top of his reference books and walked to the doorway, letting Jensen lead him away from the study to their bedroom.  He sat on the edge of the bed and before he could move again Jensen was there, removing his shoes and socks, unbuttoning his vest and shirt and pushing it off his broad shoulders. 

Jared watched him, knowing in moments like this that he was lucky he’d met Jensen all those years ago.  Jensen was smart and funny and had a way of charming people that went beyond looks and smiles, but that came from a warm, loving heart.  He cared almost too much at times but Jared couldn’t help but love the man for it.  It helped, of course, that Jensen had the most infectious smile and eyes that could pierce your soul.  The locals didn’t call him the Green-Eyed for nothing.

Jensen reached for the waist of his pants and Jared slapped his hands away.  “Do you think I’m so easy?”

Jensen smiled as he leaned over him, forcing him to lie back on the bed.  “As a matter of fact, Mr. Padalecki, I do.” 

He pulled Jared’s pants off and Jared laughed lightly.  Jensen pulled the sheets back and tucked him firmly in, and Jared could only smile at his affectionate manner.  When Jensen joined him a second later, Jared slid into his arms, resting his head on his lover’s shoulder.

“One of these days the staff is going to walk in and realize you don’t actually use your own rooms,” he said with a yawn.

“If they haven’t figured that already Jared you should probably fire them for being imbeciles.”  Jensen’s lips grazed his temple.  “Was it bad?”

He shook his head, knowing that Jensen was asking about his vision.  “No, I don’t remember much of it either.  Maybe if I had an actual piece from the dig, but all Chris sent was that photograph.”

“Is there a reason he’s sending you pictures from a Mayan temple?”

“I can read it.”

Jensen huffed.  “Of course you can.  All Egyptologists can.”

Jared laughed again at the fond exasperation in Jensen’s voice.  “I’m a linguist as well, though you seem to love to forget that.  I had a fascination with hieroglyphics in my younger days.”

“Is Chris in trouble?” Jensen asked, returning their conversation to the matter at hand.  His lover was well aware of Jared’s need to explore and learn new languages and seemed to have a great degree of pride whenever Jared proved his skill in another one, but he was also very good at helping Jared to focus on what he needed to be focused on. 

“I don’t think so.  I’ll have to try to get through to him tomorrow though.  I know where he was headed, but it might take a few days to get a wire through to him.”

“It wouldn’t hurt, just in case.”

“No it wouldn’t,” Jared said with a sigh.  Jensen’s hand to his cheek brought his eyes back up to his lover and he smiled then, letting out a deep breath with all the tension he’d held in his body upon waking from the vision.

“Sleep Jared,” Jensen said, softly.  “We’ll figure it out in the morning.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then I suppose it’s time for another adventure, isn’t it?”

Jared closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around Jensen’s waist, pulling them closer together as he entwined their legs.  His mind rolled back to the vision, to the picture and what it might entail.  He was pulled away from the thought by Jensen’s laughter. 

“Go to sleep Jared.”

He smiled into Jensen’s skin, and then pressed a kiss to it.  “Alright.  Good night Green-Eyed.”

“Sleep well my Quick-Tongue,” was the last he heard before true sleep took him.

 

 

  

 

 

Jared stared at the paper in his hand, the fading daylightdoing nothing to still the darkness he felt sinking around him.  He’d known since the first vision struck that something was wrong, but he’d let himself be lulled from that belief.  No, he wasn’t lulled.  He was just busy and hoping against all instinct and knowledge, that he was wrong this time.

He looked down at the picture again and thought about Chris and the image brought a smile to his face.  His friend had taken one look at Jared on his first day at the University and decided that he needed to protect and care for the young protégé.  It was a trait Jared brought out in others, it seemed, but in those early days he had been a godsend.  Too young to be on his own and far too caught up in his studies to care for himself, Chris had been there to help him through the worst of the pitfalls. 

While Jared had been fascinated with Egypt and her sands and intricate history, Chris had been taken with the language of the ancient Mesoamerican cultures.  He’d studied the Aztec and Olmec, they’d had debates over Mayan translations and fought over the misconceptions the European settlers had spread about the ‘savage’ cultures.  It had been invigorating and challenging and Chris had never let Jared’s age scare him away from pinning Jared on something he said.  He made Jared a better scholar where others were afraid he might break with the pressure.

He’d also been the one to get him well and truly drunk for the first time on cheap brandy and laughed at him as he suffered through a hangover the next morning.

Chris had been his best friend and was still one of his closest friends.  They were constantly corresponding with one another and even if they didn’t get to see each other face to face often, there was always a great deal of joy in their reunions.  He hadn’t seen Chris in more than five years though.  Their last encounter had been shortly before Jared met Jensen, a meeting in Cairo where Chris had been brought in by the university to lecture on the importance of undisturbed finds and the dismissal of undocumented ‘facts’ that seemed to bog down their occupation.

He didn’t know about Jared’s visions, those had only started after he’d left the University, but he did know about Jared’s other secret.  It wasn’t something he could come out and speak about.  It wasn’t something that his peers would understand.  He hated hiding who he was, but he had accepted that was his lot in life.  As much as he would have liked to have the simple life that a wife and family would give, he wasn’t the type of man to trap a woman in a loveless marriage for the sake of appearances.  His predilection towards the male of the species was complete and even if he’d never thought to find someone to share his life with, he’d have been happy with just his work and his place with the eccentrics of academia. 

Jensen had changed all that of course.  Jensen had no care about social mores, at least not those of current day Egypt.  He was discrete about it, respecting the current laws and traditions, but he didn’t allow that to stop the way he acted towards Jared when they were alone.

If anyone at the museum thought it odd that Jared had taken Jensen into his home five years previous, no one spoke of it.  Jared was highly respected in his field and his colleagues gave his eccentricities a wide, affectionate berth.   The fact that it was Jensen had something to do with it as well.  The Green-Eyed was well known in Jared’s circles and widely respected.  People were far more interested in how Jared managed to talk him into working on more than one project with him than the fact that they were living together. 

At least he hoped.  There had been some speculation, a few rumors that surfaced in the beginning, but then no one paid it any mind and Jared had relaxed about it.  Not that he would have changed his life over any one else’s opinion, but it was less of a worry.

Chris knew the whole truth about him though and Jared suspected that even without knowing their history, Chris would figure out what Jensen was to him if he talked about him too much.  It was why he’d never mentioned Jensen to Chris on their few telephone calls and only in passing over their written correspondence.  Chris would approve of course, but it wasn’t something Jared wanted to share with the world.  Jensen was his and his alone, the trials they’d faced over the years cementing it in ways that no ring or ceremony ever could.

He hated to think that something had happened to Chris before he could meet the person Jared had given himself over to completely.  Chris would not only approve of Jensen and the care he took with Jared, but he would like him on his own rights, one man to another.     

“I don’t suppose its good news, the way you’re gripping that,” Jim said as he nodded to Jared’s hand, clenching the notice from the wire service. 

Jared shook his head.  “No.  A friend of mine sent me this picture,” he said, dropping the wire and handing Jim the picture of Chris.  After University, Jim seemed to pick up the neespan style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">d to take Jared under his wing and Jared had a fondness for the older man that was almost familial.  He was a far better father figure than his own had been, shuffling his son off to boarding school at a young age and leaving him there until he’d drunk himself to death.  Jim knew a lot of things and he was a good enough man to know when to talk about them and when not to.

If anyone at the museum had an idea of what Jensen was toJared, it was Jim.  He’d been with them, after all, in the adventure that had cemented their relationship.  Jim’s support had never wavered over the years though.  He’d been true and steadfast in the face of everything.  Even as angry as he’d been when they’d traversed the Egyptian desert , found themselves face to face with an Egyptian Pharaoh, and realized that Jared had been keeping secrets about their ultimate goal, he’d known that Jared had done it for good reasons. 

He’d also been the one to kick Jared’s ass back into the field when Jensen had disappeared for six months after it all and helped Jensen find him when he’d come back.  If Jim didn’t know, it was because he chose not to.  Jared had never been more grateful to anyone in his life.  He was sure it would break something in him to lose the support of his mentor.

“He was studying the ruins of Yaxchilan in Mexico.  His descriptions of the place were amazing but as he got further into the dig I stopped hearing anything.  After three months of silence, all I got was this.”

“This is your friend Chris, right?”

“Yes.”

“You always said he was fond of trouble.”

“Yes,” Jared said with a small smile, “he was.”

“What makes you think this isn’t just a misunderstanding?” Jared didn’t answer but Jim only waited a moment.  “You had a vision?”

“There was nothing there to indicate something was wrong.  It doesn’t work like that, I know, but there was a lingering sense there that I can’t get out of my head.”

“A sense of what?”

“Darkness.”

“What’s Jensen think about it?” Jim’s confidence in the Green-Eyed was like most of the archeological population.  Whether they’d met him in person or just knew of him by rumor, their confidence in the Green-Eyed was complete. 

“He hasn’t said anything,” Jared turned away from Jim because really that was a large part of his problem.  He wasn’t sure if he should say something to Jensen or not.  He knew Jared was still waking with nightmares from the damn vision but he hadn’t said anything about going off to look for Chris and Jared was hesitant to ask him.  Egypt was Jensen’s home.  Except for the time he’d come looking for Jared, they had never left Egypt on their adventures.  He didn’t know if Jensen would even be interested in joining him on this and he wasn’t sure he could face this sort of thing alone anymore.  Having Jensen at his side meant too much.

He heard Jim sigh behind him.  “Any reason you’re keeping secrets from him again?”

He turned quickly to glare at Jim for the censure but it was hard to be angry with someone who knew you so well.  “It’s not a secret.  We just haven’t discussed leaving Egypt before.”

Jim huffed at that.  “Sounds like you need to be having this discussion with someone else then.  You’ll need to take some time off from the museum I suppose.  I’ll get that covered for you,” Jim said, stopping when a knock at the door interrupted him.

“Jensen,” Jim said, standing up to shake the other man’s hand.  “Good to see you my friend.”

“And you,” Jensen said with a smile.  Jensen was more relaxed around Jim than any of Jared’s other colleagues.  Their shared history meant that Jensen didn’t need to hide who he was and his knowledge of ancient Egypt was never questioned or debated.  Jim had been with them, after all, when they’d all learned that Jensen had once been an Egyptian general, slave of a loveless Pharaoh.  Jensen had lived his entire life, to that point, with no memory of who he was or where he’d been.  When they found one another, racing against a sand storm it had seemed a great stroke of luck.  Jared had heard about the Green-eyed but had never met him before.  Jensen’s inclusion in their party had been far more than luck though.  It had been fate.

He showed up when Jared was having visions that led him to an unknown tomb of a long forgotten, yet beloved General.   For love of him, his people had found a way to set his soul free of his body, away from the Pharaoh who could never return the love and devotion he’d been given.   At the end of their journey, Jared’s visions had shown him that Jensen was that General, living his life without those memories, looking for the love the Pharaoh hadn’t allowed him in his previous life. 

It had been Jared who had cut the heart out of his mummified remains and given it to the Egyptian gods for judgment.  The gods had found him worthy and Jensen had been given his life back.  The Pharaoh, who had stalked him into the afterlife, had been forced into the underworld where he could not longer haunt the General. 

It left Jensen to deal with a lifetime of memories from both ancient Egypt and the modern day world, something that still plagued him from time to time.  Jim was one of the few people who knew that and Jensen never had to hide his background from. 

 “I’m sorry to interrupt.  I didn’t know you were here.  I’ll let you finish up,” Jensen’s eyes took in the photo in Jim’s hand though and Jared gave him a half smile, not sure what else he could say.  “Will you be staying for lunch Jim?”

Jim shook his head.  “No, I figure I have some things to arrange at the museum before I can get any work done,” he said with a smile.  “I’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes.”

Jensen nodded, then backed out of the room with a quick good-bye.

“Hand me those,” Jim said, pointing to the translation Jared had actually asked him to stop by to talk about.

“I’m not quite done.”

“And you won’t be finishing them either.” Jim interrupted.  “We both know your mind is already working on Chris and his trouble.  You aren’t going to be able to translate anything else while this is hanging over your head.”

“You’re a good friend, Jim,” Jared said as he rolled up the scroll and put it back in the protective cover.  He handed it to Jim and smiled widely at him.  “I owe you.”

“Again,” Jim reminded him.

“One of these days you’re going to call in that favor and I’ll be in real trouble.”

Jim laughed.  “Send me word of your plans before you go so I don’t worry.”

“I will.”

“And take care of the Green-Eyed.”  Jim had an oddly protective streak when it came to Jensen.  Jared had never met anyone who worried half so much about someone as competent as Jensen. 

“He takes care of himself,” Jared said with an exasperated laugh.

“Yeah, well I worry about you both, no matter how old his soul is.”  Jim said softly, though he was smiling as he walked to the door.

 

 

 

 

 

He escorted Jim down to the front door and they said their good-byes, Jim reiterating that they needed to take care of themselves with Jared reminding him that of course they would.  It wasn’t their first adventure together even if it would be the first in the Americas.    

When his mentor was gone, Jared went looking for Jensen.  He needed to find a way to convince Jensen to go to Mexico with him.  He didn’t know what his reaction would be, but Jim was right in thinking he wouldn’t go without the other man.  Travelling without Jensen was almost unthinkable anymore so he had to find a way to talk him into it.  His lover wasn’t in the library or his office.  He wasn’t in his bed room either.   He checked the kitchen to see if he was begging the cook for an early treat but the staff was in a flurry of activity and all he did was poke his head in, hoping for a sign of Jensen before backing out again.  He’d found it was better not to ask what his staff was doing most times.  They were efficient and took great care of them.  He’d learned early on to stay out of their way.

When he made his way up to his bed room he finally found the man.  Their well used bags were sitting on the bed and Jensen was stuffing clothes in one.

“Jensen, what are you doing?”

Jensen looked up, a small smile curving his lips.  “I overheard Jim telling you he’d work on getting you time off.  I was sure that meant we were heading out tonight.  Was I wrong?”

Jared closed the door behind him and took a few steps closer to Jensen.  “No, you weren’t wrong.  I need to find out what happened to Chris.  Even if I get there and he’s just fallen into a bottle and a local girl, I need to see it myself to know.”

Jensen nodded.  “You aren’t exactly subtle Jared,” he said softly.  “I’ve known it was coming since you had that vision two weeks ago.”

“And you’ll go with me?”

Jensen shook his head, giving Jared a small smile.  “I thought you knew this by now but where you go, I go.”

Jared closed the distance between them, arms wrapping around Jensen as he pulled him in, pressing their lips together in a hungry kiss.  He should have known better than to doubt Jensen.  “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to leave Egypt,” he whispered against his lips. 

Jensen’s mouth moved lower, kissed trailing across his jaw and down his neck.  “It’s you I can’t seem to leave, Jared,” he whispered as his hands worked at the buttons of Jared’s vest.

“The staff-”

“I told them to prepare a very heavy late lunch so we could be gone this evening.”

“So they won’t be coming to interrupt about lunch anytime soon?”

“No, they won’t.”

“God, you think of everything,” Jared said, laughing breathlessly as his shirt was pushed off his shoulders.  It was always like that when they were preparing to go off on an adventure.  Jensen took care of the details of travel while Jared immersed himself in the culture and language.  When they weren’t doing those two things, they were with each other, making every moment count in case they weren’t able to get time on the road.  They horded their privacy and made use of it but this trip was different.  Tonight they would leave.  There was no two weeks of preparation as they waited for funding to come through, or for the equipment and men to come together.  They only had the afternoon and Jensen wasn’t wasting the time, his fingers sprawling over the newly exposed skin of Jared’s chest. 

“Jensen,” he whispered, pulling his lover’s mouth back to his. 

Jensen moaned into his mouth and then Jared was undoing the buttons on Jensen’s shirt, letting his hands explore the hard, warm flesh beneath it.  His fingers trailed over the skin just above Jensen’s belt and he started working it open, slow and steady as Jensen took control of the kiss, tongues tangling as he stepped them backward towards the bed. 

Jensen had to stop kissing him to move the bags off the bed, but then he was pushing his pants off and falling to his knees, working at Jared’s pants.  Jared bit his lip to keep from moaning just at the sight of Jensen, tan, naked flesh calling to be touched, the only item on his body an ancient Egyptian necklace that hung around his neck.

When Jensen’s hands gripped his hips and pushed him back, Jared sat down heavily on the bed.  Jensen licked a stripe up Jared’s cock and he had to grip the down comforter to keep from grabbing his lover’s hair and making him take his cock into his mouth.

He knew Jensen was teasing him when he worked his way lower, kissing the inside of his thighs as he spread them further, his tongue laving at his balls.  “Lay back Jared,” he said softly and Jared couldn’t do anything but comply. 

He felt his legs being lifted and he pulled them up on the edge of the bed, knees bent high as Jensen kept his hips where they were.  Jensen’s lips trailed over his thigh, lower until he was nipping lightly at Jared’s ass.  Jensen’s tongue licked over his hole then and Jared gripped the comforter again, trying to reign in his need to moan.  They didn’t normally do this when the staff was around and the last thing he needed was someone coming to find out why Jared was making those sorts of noises.

“Shhhh,” Jensen soothed, though Jared knew if he looked down there would be a smile on his face.  He licked a circle around Jared then pressed at the ring of muscle with the flat of his tongue. 

“Jense, please …”

Jensen didn’t make him beg, instead he pressed in with the point of his tongue, sliding past Jared’s muscles.  He slid in and out a few times before Jared felt the first finger pressing into him beside it.  He never stopped licking him open, his tongue lapping at his entrance as a second finger was pressed in, twisting and stretching him. 

“Jared,” the need in Jensen’s voice took his breath away.

“Now Jensen, god now.”  It was all he had to say before Jensen was pulling his fingers free.  Jared moved up the bed and pulled back the covers to lie on the soft cool sheets as Jensen crawled up the bed between his legs.  His hand was stroking up and down his cock, slick and wet with the sweet oil they kept for just these moments.  He leaned over then, his lips trailing across the top of Jared’s shoulders as he pressed his whole body against him.  He slid back slightly and then he was pressing into Jared’s body, stretched and aching to let his lover in.

Jensen bit his shoulder as he bottomed out, silencing his own groans.  Jared’s hands came up then, one to the back of Jensen’s head and the other gripping his hip, pulling at him as if he could get any closer. 

Jensen didn’t need him to say anything, just took his movements for the permission they were as he slid slowly back and then in again.  Jared arched his body, the steady glide in and out almost too much when Jensen had him so worked up already. 

He could feel Jensen trembling above him and he let his eyes linger for a moment longer on the way they moved together before he looked up into his lover’s eyes.  Jensen’s lips crash down into his and Jared opened immediately, letting his wicked tongue explore his lips and teeth and tongue.

Jensen pulled back, resting his forehead against Jared’s.  “God Quick-Tongue, what you do to me,” he shivered as he spoke and Jared framed his face in his hands, pulling at him so he looked him in the eye.

They didn’t say anything but there was no need to.  He was lost in that green gaze, unable to think past the feel of this, of his lover pressing into him, seeing into the darkest parts of his soul.  He felt the slow build of pressure and then he was gasping as he painted their stomachs in white stripes.  Jensen’s hips stuttered to a halt and he was biting his lip to keep in the delicious sounds that normally came from their coupling. 

He couldn’t stop looking at Jensen, staring up at the man above him.  Something dark came to the front of his eyes, something that Jared knew well and he let his thumb caress under Jensen’s eyes.  Jensen seemed unable to move and Jared just smiled up, tilting his head enough to kiss his lips gently.

“God how you are loved My General.”

Jensen buried his head in Jared’s shoulder and he could feel the tremors in him.  He pulled away a moment later, leaving Jared as he grabbed for a towel to wipe them clean.  Jared didn’t say anything as he did, but when Jensen sat at the edge of the bed, his back to Jared, he pulled him down, spooning up behind him.

“Stop thinking for a few minutes.  We’ll get dressed soon and then you can continue with that mental list of things you need to see to before we leave,” he whispered into Jensen’s ear.

He felt the tension leave Jensen’s body and then he was turning onto his back.  Jared slid in under his arm, taking his place with his head resting against Jensen’s chest. 

“I love you Jared,” the words came out a sigh against his temple.  “Never doubt that.”

Jared closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing as he felt Jensen’s hand soothing up and down his back.  “I’ve never doubted you, not since the day we met.”

“Sap.”

“You love it,” Jared said grinning against his chest.

“Yeah, maybe I do.”

 

 

 

  


Jared looked out the window of his hotel, sighing at the marvel of the Mexican ambiance.  It was so incredibly foreign to him, coming from Egypt after so many years, but he didn’t regret it in the slightest.  Egypt was his love and his passion, but he’d never been one to let a mystery go, no matter where it took him.

He heard the adjoining door open behind him and he turned to see Jensen walking from his room into Jared’s, living proof that Jared always solved a mystery.

“I made arrangements for a boat in the morning.  We’ll have to go up the river about two hours before we’ll get to the site your friend was working on.”

 

“We just got to the hotel.  You haven’t had time to make any arrangements,” Jared said, awe in his voice at his lover’s ability to get things done before Jared had even had time to voice the need. 

“I have my ways,” Jensen replied with a grin.  “I told them we’d want to make an early start so we need to meet them at the docks at first light.”

“All the other travel arrangements have been made?”

“Supplies are already being prepared and should arrive in time for dinner.”

“Good,” Jared replied absently as he pulled out his journal and stroked his fingers over his friend’s picture again.

“You’re really worried about him.”

Jensen knew it was true so Jared didn’t bother hiding it.  Not that it would have done any good since they’d just flown across the ocean to check up on Chris, but it helped to ease some of the tension in his back, knowing that Jensen understood him so well.

“Chris was always a bit wild, the reckless one of the group.  I’m not worried that he would have hurt himself, but underneath that brash attitude, he’s a good person and he’s gotten into trouble more than once because of that combination.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I thought we’d look at the site tomorrow,” he said as he thought about the next step.  “We should try to get a look at his room tonight.  Maybe he’s left a clue there for us.”

“You really think you can find something no one else could?”

“We’ve been best friends since my freshman year at the University.  If there is anyone that he would leave a hidden clue for, it would be me.  He’d hide it in ways only I would understand.”

Jensen just nodded at those words.  “Alright.  I’ll see about getting us into his hotel tonight as well.”  He was out the door then, making Jared’s needs a reality.  Jared sat looking at the picture in front of him, intrigued and worried and unable to rest until he put it all right.

 

 

 

What he found in Chris’s room was complete chaos.  While the local police told them nothing useful had been found in the room, they didn’t know Chris.  Jared took it all in, trying to understand what his friend had been doing.

The bed was rumpled from use and the staff told him that no one had come up until the police the week before.  The room was paid for another two weeks and Chris had been known during his stay there to disappear for long periods before coming back so no one had thought anything odd of his current absence.  The police were taking the same view.  With a habit of disappearing and returning again when his rent was due, they decided they still had two weeks before he was actually missing.  Jared knew better.

“What are all these papers?”  Jensen asked as he moved to the desk.  He wasn’t touching anything but Jared could see the way he was eyeing everything as well, collecting information but waiting for Jared in case anything was laid out in a way that would mean something to him.

The desk was cluttered with papers and Jared stepped over the mess of clothes that piled the floor.

“Is that normal for him?” Jensen asked, looking pointedly at the heap he’d just stepped over.

“Unfortunately, yes.  He was always a bit of a slob and when he was in the field he was worse.”

“So the disarray of the room doesn’t necessarily mean someone sacked the place?”

“No.”

“But they could have,” Jensen moved away from the desk now that Jared was taking it all in.  He began going through the closet and the bed side cabinets in case there was anything there and Jared focused on the desk.

“He’s got notes about missing persons.  I wonder if he was having trouble keeping his crew in line?” Jared asked aloud.  It didn’t fit with the man he knew though.  Chris might be a little rough around the edges, even with his formal education, but he won over his crews with his sharp wit and warm southern charm.  In all their years, he’d never heard of a single trouble with the crew.  He might get in trouble for being a little over protective about the women he came into contact with, but he never had trouble with the crew.

“I think I’m just going to take all his notes back with us.  There’s nothing here that I can see as an obvious indication of what he was up against, but maybe if I can organize his thoughts I can figure it out,” Jared looked over at Jensen as he set the mattress back on the bed, shrugging his shoulders when nothing was hidden there either.  “Unlike the rest of this mess, Chris always kept his work well organized.  It might not look it to others, but if you knew his system, you could follow him anywhere.  This,” he indicated the maelstrom of papers “was not Chris’s system.  Someone came in and messed with his papers, though if it was just the police or something else, I don’t know.”

Jensen nodded.  “If the place was tossed they didn’t do a thorough job of it.  Nothing seems to have been searched, the mattress is intact, his clothes still hung undisturbed.  They could have come through the window since we’re only on the second floor, but the windows aren’t broken so either they were left open or someone knew how to open them up.  It’s not impossible with this design,” he added.

 “And you know this how?” Jared asked with a smile. 

 “A man with no past has to find a living somehow,” Jensen teased back. 

“Alright.  I’ll get his papers sorted through.  If he’s got any equipment left here we should take that back as well.  I don’t like the idea of leaving his things here for anyone else to walk away with.”

 Jared started collecting the papers and arranging them until they fit back into the heavy journal that his friend preferred to keep his notes in while Jensen moved through the space behind him, collecting anything else that they might need. 

It didn’t take long and then Jared was staring over a messy room that held nothing more than his friend’s clothes.  If there had been anything else to find there, someone else must have gotten to it first.

“You don’t really think anyone came here, do you?”  Jared was asking but they both already knew the answer.

“No,” Jensen said with a finality that made Jared shiver.  “Whatever Chris is up against, he did this to himself.”

 

 

 

Jared looked up from Chris’s papers as Jensen came through the adjoining door of their rooms, a loaded food tray in his hands.

“Hungry?” Jared asked his lover.

Jensen gave him a fond smile as he sat the tray on the bed, the table too covered with papers that Jared was still trying to sort through.  “Leave it for a few minutes Jared.  You need to eat.”

Jared didn’t fight him on it; instead he moved away from the desk and settled on the bed beside Jensen.  He knew when he needed to push himself and when he needed to conserve his strength.  They weren’t in the heat of things yet so he still had time to finish his exploration of Chris’s words.  Jensen had always been able to sense when Jared needed to be pulled away from his work or when he was just going to eat as he went on, something that amused Jensen to no end and annoyed Jared when he really didn’t want to stop.  Which was often.

Jensen pulled the cover off the plates and Jared didn’t hesitate to partake of the local foods.  Jensen seemed a little more hesitant, but the spicy scent seemed to entice him enough that Jared didn’t have to say anything. 

They ate mostly in silence and Jared was grateful for it.  His mind was turning over what he’d learned so far and he was anxious to get to the site at Yaxchilan.  There might not be any more clues about Chris’s disappearance there but he had hopes that he might get a vision from the actual site, something more than the vague darkness that had haunted his dreams since he’d received the photo.

“So what were all his notes about?”  Jensen asked as he took the tray from the bed and took it into the other room.

Jared thought about what might be helpful as he waited for Jensen to come back and join him.  When Jensen stretched out on the bed, Jared laid back as well, turning onto his side so he could look down at Jensen.

“He was at the Yaxchilan site.  It looks like there were a lot of locals going missing and he took notice of it.  His notes are mostly about that.  The interesting thing though, is that he’s circled specific locations on a map.  He seems to have been focusing on the local villages.  He was looking for the Lacandon people.”

 “This is my first trip to the NewWorld Quick-Tongue,” Jensen said with a grin. 

“Mayan.  The people who still practice the original Mayan religion.”

“Why was he looking for them?”

“I don’t know,” Jared said with a frustrated sigh.  “The people that disappeared weren’t Lacandon so I don’t see why he’s focused on them.”

“Could the Lacandon be behind his disappearance?”

Jared shook his head.  “I don’t know.  Their people are almost extinct.  When the Spanish came through this part of the world the locals were forced to adopt Christian beliefs, or to modify their religion to accommodate it.  The Mayan practices of sacrifice were one of the things the conquerors wanted to do away with.  Over time, the religion lost its followers.  At this point there are so few practitioners that its not even considered an active religion.”

“Sacrifice?  You’re talking human sacrifice?”

“The Mayans did practice human sacrifice, but only on special occasions.  Their rituals could be anything from animal sacrifice and simple blood letting to offerings of grain drinks made with a specified numbers of grains.  It depended on the ritual and the celebration,” he could see Jensen’s unease with the subject.  “Egypt has its share of ritual sacrifices, so it’s not the first time we’ve come across this sort of thing.”

Jensen looked at him for a second and his eyes seemed to grow darker.  “No, it’s not the first time we’ve come across it,” he snapped as he pushed himself out of the bed and walked out the small door to the patio.

Jared wanted to kick himself for the words, but he knew he had to give Jensen a few minutes to cool down before he could make amends.  The Egyptians practiced a different type of sacrifice, where the slaves of a noble’s household could be sacrificed so that they could continue to serve him in the afterlife.  Jensen had been the recipient of such a sacrifice in a time and place when he hadn’t believed himself worthy of it.  No one, he’d said, deserved that sort of sacrifice.  Jensen still believed it and so did the General he’d once been.

He gave it a few more minutes before he walked out the door to the small patio where Jensen stood, his hands braced on the railing.  His shoulders were more squared than normal, his stance almost militaristic, like a general of old.  He knew if he could look into his eyes that they would still hold the darkness that always came with Jensen’s past.  Jared took a deep breath as he walked up behind him, softly but not silently, letting his head rest on Jensen’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry.  That was thoughtless of me.”

He felt Jensen’s body shift and looked down to see Jensen’s fingers wrapping around the amulet around his neck.  “It was,” Jensen agreed, he turned his head to look at Jared from his peripheral and continued, “but you aren’t to blame for the foolish acts other people do.  Whatever is happening here, we’ll figure it out.”

Jared nodded and then Jensen was turning around, the darkness dissipating, leaving his green eyes full of the warmth and affection that they normally held.  “Let’s just hope no one is looking to open me up this time.”

 Jared snorted as he leaned in, letting his nose press against the soft skin just behind Jensen’s ear.  “Why do they always want to cut out your heart?” he asked.  It seemed to be a common theme in their adventures.   

“You started it,” Jensen laughed and Jared felt his hands pushing him back into the room.  “You always find a way to keep me safe though so I’m not all that worried.”

Jared let himself be led back in and then Jensen was stripping his clothes off him, taking his time to touch and tease until Jared was begging for him.  If Jared’s hand strayed to Jensen’s heart during their lovemaking, Jensen never commented on it.  When they fell asleep, sated and holding onto their last night of privacy, Jared had peaceful dreams, knowing his General was watching over him.

 

  

  
  
Jensen sat at the front edge of the small boat, watching the shores as they passed slowly by.  Alligators infested the waters, but none seemed willing to move from their resting spots along the banks.  The scene was too familiar for Jared, the images bringing forth a cleared memory of his vision.  He didn’t say anything to Jensen, but he didn’t need to.  Jensen was always on his guard when they were away from home.  Jim teased that not even in Cairo was Jensen completely at ease.  So long as Jared was on the streets where someone might hurt him, Jensen was ready to fight.  Jared didn’t know for sure if he was right or not.  It was a rather pleasant thought though, the idea that his lover was always looking out for him.  Jared might be the bigger of the two men, but Jensen was the fighter to Jared’s scholar.  He’d learned a little of fighting over time, Jensen teaching him what he could as Jared’s time allowed it.  It appeased his sense of symmetry, this knowledge that Jensen had started out as a simple scribe once upon a time as well.

Their guide was silent now, though he’d been more than willing to talk to Jared once he’d managed to figure out the local dialect.  There were still a few words that threw him, things that were original to this place and time, but he’d managed to stumble through just fine. 

Jared shifted slowly in the boat, moving forward to sit next to Jensen.  “What did you learn earlier?” he asked.  The sound of the motor behind them gave them a little privacy from their guide and Jensen looked over the landscape one last time before turning his green eyes to Jared.

“You saw that?”

Jared smiled, knowing that he’d surprised Jensen.  Jared knew he had a tendency to get caught up in his work to the point that nothing else existed.  Jensen had never quite figured out that he was the one exception to that though.  Jared always looked up when Jensen was near, instinct telling him when the man was close.  His eyes tracked him through crowded streets and found him in rooms filled with museum patrons. 

Jensen shook his head and smiled back at him.  “The locals are all pretty spooked.  There have always been missing people, the jungle gets some, some just run away trying to find something better, but in the last six months a lot more people have gone missing than usual.  It’s not just the teenagers and the fringe element anymore either.  People with families and stable lives are gone.  One of the women I talked to said that her sister lives in a village twenty miles south of her and the same thing was happening there.”

 “I don’t like the sound of this.”

 “And yet here we are, sitting in a boat leading us deeper into the jungle,” Jensen teased.  As much as they both wanted to keep the other safe, it was always tempered with the need to explore, the desire to learn something new and exciting.  As Jared watched Jensen’s smile, he realized it’d been too long for the both of them.

 “I’m sure we could talk our guide into turning around if you can’t handle it,” Jared faked his concern.

 “As if you could turn around right now Jared,” Jensen looked back to the river and took in a deep breath before releasing it, the set of his shoulders relaxing slightly as he did so.  “It’s beautiful here.”

 “Deadly.”

 “When isn’t it?”  Jensen smiled at him and the darkness was there again, making Jared wonder if his lover was seeing the here and now, or if his mind was looking back across the ancient Nile. 

 

 

 

 

The trip lasted almost three hours thanks to the small motor on their guide’s boat, but it allowed Jared the time to categorize things in his head, to look at what was before them and notice the difference between book and reality, to learn a world that was foreign to him outside of heated debates with his friend.

When they finally stepped off the boat, their guide let him know he’d be back the next day to check on them.  It was a good arrangement, giving Jensen and Jared the freedom to work the site with the knowledge that they could go home in the morning should they need it. 

Jensen already had their packs out of the boat and had his around his shoulders, ready to start up the path, his eyes taking in the jungle around them but always flickering back to Jared and the guide.

When the guide left, Jared came up and grabbed his pack, the lighter of the two which Jensen would surely tease him about even though he was the one that packed them.

“Let’s see what we can find, shall we?”

Up the path a short way they found themselves walking through stone hallways.  There were so many things he wanted to say about the beauty of the site, about the world they’d just stepped into but there were no words to do it justice.  The splendor of the lush jungle as it overtook a culture’s legacy was too immense for anything he could say.

Jensen found a single word that seemed to fit the moment though.  “Damn,” the expletive was breathless with Jensen’s awe and admiration. 

Jared smiled at his lover’s back and continued along the path.  He wanted to climb to the top of the Acropolis, to see the amazing works that he knew Chris had begun to uncover here, but he pushed down his own impatience and tried to take inventory of their location instead.

“What do you need me to do Jared?” Jensen asked as they looked out across the first plaza, steps leading up and buildings in all directions around them.

His words brought Jared away from the scenery.  The light of the jungle made Jensen’s eyes glow and he let out a shuddered breath, his hands itching to touch, to press Jensen against the walls of the stone city and never come up for air.  Jensen seemed to sense something in his eyes because his own grew darker in response.  Jensen took a step back though, keeping the distance they both knew they needed to keep at that moment. 

Jared cleared his throat and looked away for a moment before trusting himself to look at Jensen again.  “There should be some evidence that Chris was here.  We should start in the plaza and work our way out until we find something.”

Jensen nodded, but it was the General behind his eyes.  The General wasn’t a separate part of Jensen as much as he was a mantel to put on when his emotions were too close to the surface and he needed to keep the distance, or when the past came crashing in and he needed to remove himself from the here and now.  He became more formal and he touched Jared less when he was like that, but it was still his lover and the passion and compassion that drew him to Jensen had all started with the man before him. 

 "He wouldn’t have set up a base here in the plaza,” Jensen said, knowing from experience how archeologists worked a site.  “I’ll take a look at the most promising positions if you want to start looking in here.  If you need to go up the stairs, let me know though.”

 Jared nodded, taking the rebuke for what it was.  “Yes sir, General sir,” he saw the smirk on his lover’s lips and knew that he’d managed to get through the stone wall no matter how hard Jensen was fighting it just then.

 He didn’t push it anymore than that though.  They had work to do.  If something had happened to Chris while he was at the site, he needed to figure it out before any more time passed. 

 

 

 

 

Jensen followed him up the stairs and Jared was beginning to wish they’d started at the top and worked their way down.  After a long day of searching, walking up the stone stairs to the highest tips of the jungle canopy seemed more than his legs could take.  Jensen didn’t say anything, but stayed a step behind him, as if ready to catch him should he fall.  “Damn fool,” Jared murmured to himself.  If he fell back on Jensen and he did try to catch him, it’d just result in them both falling down the stairs.  If he were less sure of himself, Jared might take it as an insult, but that was just Jensen though. 

“You think Chris really left something up here?”

“No, but its worth looking at anyway.”

They’d found the place where Chris had set up camp and he was grateful that they had physical proof that his friend had been there.  It wasn’t something anyone else would have noticed, but Chris had taught Jared how to set up a camp and he had strong beliefs about how to do it.  The position of everything in the camp screamed Chris to him, even if it wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else.   

Even without Jensen’s confirmation though, he’d known that Chris hadn’t been there in a while.  He regretted the time he’d taken to get there now, time that should have been spent looking for Chris instead of convincing himself that he was okay. 

“Tell me we’re almost at the top,” Jensen pleaded from behind him and Jared couldn’t help but smile. 

“Yeah, just a few more steps, we’ll have a quick look around, and then we can climb back down.”

Jensen groaned as Jared hit the last step and then he was turning, taking in the spectacular sight around him.  The jungle canopy spread out under his eyes, the river they’d taken earlier almost covered from sight except for a bend that showed it in view. 

Jensen took a moment to look, but then the other man was trudging inside the building, leaving Jared to soak in the panorama.  As much as he loved the sands of Egypt, he could see how Chris had been captivated by the wild nature of the world stretching out around him. 

“Jared, I need you.” 

Jensen’s tone pulled Jared into the highest building before he could think about what he was doing.  When he walked in, Jensen was crouching at the back of the building, pointing towards a corner where an old shrine sat.  On top of it were bowls of different sizes, cups as well.  He looked at the intricate faces on the bowls and noticed that a few of them had burn marks and ash inside.

“God bowls,” Jared said softly.  Jensen didn’t ask, but Jared could feel his impatience.  “The faces on the bowls are depictions of their gods.  They used them to give offerings and sacrifice.”

“Why the ash?  What are they burning?” Jensen asked, standing up behind Jared as they looked down together.

“They didn’t burn much for the gods; mostly they gave specially prepared breads or drinks.  This,” he said, indicating the other bowls, “means they were burning paper.”

 "What was on the paper then?”

 "Blood.  They were participating in a blood letting ceremony.  They cut themselves and then caught the blood on the paper, burning that for their gods.”

 “Jared, you remember when I told you not to touch the sarcophagus in the General’s tomb?”

 “Yeah…”

 “Remember how monumentally bad that turned out when you did?”

 “Yeah,” he said, looking over his shoulder to see Jensen’s face, pale and concerned as he looked down at the bowls.  Opening the sarcophagus had unleashed a monster on the world, one that had stalked Jensen from the afterlife. 

 “I’ve got that feeling again.  Don’t touch the bowls.”

 Jared nodded.  “Alright.  Let’s… let’s get out of here.”  Jensen smirked but didn’t move away from the bowls until Jared was in the doorway.

 

 

 

 

They made their way back down slowly, and Jared knew that Jensen didn’t want to stay up there any longer than he did.  Whatever he’d thought to find in the ruins, active blood letting ceremonies weren’t a part of it.  He had the answers he’d come for, Chris had been there but he was long gone.  He had his friend’s notes and he could reason out where he might have gotten into trouble.  In the morning, they’d crawl back on that boat and head back to the hotel.  It was the smart thing to do.  Really, it was.

That night they camped at Chris’s camp site.  Jensen didn’t like the idea, pointing out that whatever happened to Chris might have happened right at that spot, but Jared won the argument when he reminded Jensen that it was already half set up and the best possible location to see the ruins if anything was happening.

They lit a fire to heat their provisions but they made sure it was small enough not to collect too many unfriendly eyes, should anyone be looking.  The forest canopy itself was good at containing their location.  They agreed to let it die down to a small fire during the night to keep predators away more than anything.

“Any ideas?” Jared asked Jensen as they sat together, backs against a large log, listening to the night around them.    

Jensen let his head fall back against the wood.  As much as Jared wanted to pull his lover’s arms around him, to kiss away the day’s weariness, they weren’t safe where they were.  He comforted himself instead by pressing his shoulder to Jensen’s.

The Green-Eyed looked over at him but Jared could tell his mind was on the day’s work and the information they’d gathered.

“No one saw him at the hotel so nothing happened to him there.  I’d wager once he came to this site, he didn’t set foot back in the city.”

Jared agreed with him but he didn’t speak.  He knew Jensen had more to say so he kept quiet, watching him and filing away what he had to say in the back of his mind.

“The camp site doesn’t seem to have been disturbed too much.  There’s no sign that there was a struggle here.  If someone came here for him, then they took him willingly.  Even if they were trying to use force, it doesn’t seem like Chris would go willingly from what you’ve said of him.  I don’t think this was about the site.  I think whatever Chris was looking into with those missing persons, that’s why he’s gone.  You said he was visiting those villages.  I bet you anything he got caught up in something there or along the way.”

Jared nodded.  “I have his journal here.  We can try to track him to the villages, see where he might have been seen or maybe he talked to someone who knew where he was headed next.”

“So in the morning we’ll ask the guide to get us more provisions and we’ll start off when he comes back with them,” Jensen said, settling more solidly against the log now that they had a plan.

Jared looked over at him and shook his head, a small smile on his face.  “Just like that?”

“Was there supposed to be something else?”

Jared laughed.  “No I suppose not.”

He set his legs out to one side of the fire and accidentally knocked into one of the logs that had been set by some previous crew in a circle around the fire.  Behind it there was a small clatter and Jared reached back to see what it was. 

“Jared, don’t-”

It was too late.  He’d reached his hand around the back of the log and found the small ceramic bowl sitting there.  His fingers closed on it and brought if out before he realized it was a god bowl.  He looked over at Jensen and opened his mouth but it was too late.  Everything was fading around him, leaving him in the dark of the jungle, alone.

 

  
  
The light faded around him until Jared realized he was inside the hallways of the labyrinth he’d climbed earlier that day with Jensen.  The air was cool but not cold.  The wind howled through the corridors like a wounded beast but it didn’t touch Jared.  It never did in visions.  He crept cautiously forward, Jensen’s fear like a leash at his throat, holding him back from his naturally curious nature.  He trusted Jensen though, and his instincts.  They’d kept him alive more times than he wanted to remember.  He’d never mentioned the sarcophagus in Egypt since that adventure had ended and that he was doing it now just imparted how strongly he felt about what was happening around them.  Jared knew why Jensen was reticent to talk about it, or thought he did anyway.  It had been Jensen’s own sarcophagus, one that held the body he’d been freed from by the sacrifice of untold slaves who had loved him and wanted to give him something better than he’d been given.   Jared would have taken his warning seriously without mention of the sarcophagus, but now he could barely take a breath without looking over his shoulder.

It didn’t help that he felt someone else there.  Something was watching, waiting in the dark recesses where lintels and precious carvings told the story of hungry gods and the willing blood-shed of a people. 

He moved out of the labyrinth and into the sun light, moving carefully around the people that walked with purpose everywhere.  None looked at him, none saw him which was a relief to Jared.  It had only happened a handful of times but it always unnerved him to be seen by people that shouldn’t be able to see him. 

He followed his own instincts and followed behind two young men as they climbed up the stairs and into one of the buildings in the acropolis.  It wasn’t the rough and beaten ruin that he’d seen earlier that day with waking eyes, but a city in its height.  The jungle was lush around them, but the paths of stone were well tread, the buildings around the acropolis stood tall and proud and it bustled with life.  People hurried about their work, animals scurrying under foot chased by laughing, dirty faced children.  Jared smiled at it all before he turned to follow the young men into the building to the side where Jensen had led him earlier in the day. 

One young man stood outside the door, as if giving the other time with his offering, but Jared went in anyway, knowing his presence couldn’t disturb a scene that had already come to pass so long ago.  He watched as the man pulled out a god bowl and filled it with a precision that lent importance to the act.  He looked closely at the bowl and saw the representation of the god Kukulkan.  It wasn’t his specialty, but he remembered long night’s with Chris, dissecting and resurrecting old gods as they tried to impress their instructors.

With a bowed head, the young man placed the bowl on the edge of the shrine, whispering words into it that were too soft to hear, he then set it back with the other god bowls and left.

Jared didn’t follow him, but looked down into the bowls.  Most contained grains and breads of one type or another and a few continued other liquids. 

When he stepped out, the season had changed.  The warmth of the sun was just as strong, but it was cooler out now, the winds of autumn whipping up around him.  Jared took a deep breath of the frigid air, frowning as he turned to look back into the building.  He smelled smoke, but not the kind that lit the hearth and warmed a room.  He wasn’t sure how he knew the difference, but he turned back to the building anyway.

Two men waited outside while a third man sat kneeling before the god bowls.  The others were filled with ash, but two held paper, still burning.  The man pulled a god bowl to him, setting it carefully among the others.  In one hand, he clutched scraps of paper.  In his other hand he held out a knife and, without hesitation, drew it across his tongue.  Blood dripped dark and heavy to be collected on the paper in his hand.  Jared watched the white parchment soak red before each was placed in the bowl.

When the bowl was mostly full, a few pieces of mostly white paper were placed in the bowl and a long stick was pulled from the small hearth, embers glowing red in an eerie echo of the contents of the bowl.  Pushed into the bowl, the driest papers took the flame and the stick was pushed back into its original place for others to come and offer up their life’s blood.

Jared watched the blood letting with foreboding.  When time shifted around him, he looked back outside and found himself in the middle of a great ceremony.  He watched as blood dripped from a sacrificial table, the lives of captured enemies taken by a darkened knife.  In horrid fascination he saw the lights going out all around them, the purposeful dousing of every fire in the city.  A great warrior was brought out, but though he fought the men that pulled him forward, he was placed on the table, his hands and legs held down as the priest raised his knife high.  The warrior didn’t stop struggling until the knife was buried in his chest but then his limbs went slack and the final sacrifice of the night was done. 

The priest wasn’t finished with the ritual yet though.  The heart was carved out of his chest and he held it high for the people to see.  A cheer went up among them and Jared had to close his eyes against memories of Jensen’s still beating heart in his own hand.  

When he looked up, something had been stuffed into the warrior’s chest cavity and the heart was placed atop it.  Flint was brought forward and as the priest chanted over his work, the crowd waiting in silent anticipation, he finally struck fire.  The material caught quickly and fire began to devour the heart of the man.  A torch was lit from that fire and the priest handed it off to another man, spreading the fire until the great city was alight with flame once more.

Something sinister and hungry came through the smoke, something living and breathing, called from dark days by the burning of flesh and the sacrifice of blood.  It hovered there over the warrior, insubstantial, but Jared could feel it as eyes locked on him, hunger and need rushing to meet him.

Jared took a step back but was halted by a strong body behind him.  Hands gripped his arms, bruises pressing into his biceps.  He couldn’t move, couldn’t break free of his grasp.  The thing was almost on him when the figure behind him spoke.

“Wake Quick-tongue,” the General spoke in his ear.  “Wake to me.”

 

 

 

 

Jared took a deep breath as he realized he was out of the vision.  He found Jensen standing in front of him, eyes intense as his fingers gripped Jared’s arms tightly.  “Jared?”

The voice was off, the wrong intonation on his words and he knew that whatever had happened had pulled at Jensen as well, forcing him back into a place he’d never be able to forget, as much as he tried to remain in the modern world.

“I’m alright.”

“What happened?”

Jared shook his head, trying to clear the fear to focus on what he’d seen.  “What did you see?” he asked instead, grateful that Jensen wasn’t letting go just yet.

“It didn’t seem to be different from any other vision until I tried to touch you.  You started jerking around and I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself so I grabbed you to keep you from hitting your head on the log or rolling into the fire.”

“Wait,” Jared looked up at Jensen.  “You weren’t there?”

Jensen dropped his hands like he’d been burnt.  “No.  The only time I’ve ever followed you into a vision was because of the sarcophagus in Egypt.  You know that.”

Jared dropped his head into his hands and sighed.  He could hear the concern in Jensen’s voice as he pulled back.  “The General was there Jensen.  He woke me from the vision.  He sent me back out to you.”

“That’s not possible Jared.”

Jared laughed humorlessly.  “I cut your heart out five year ago, Jensen and gave it to the Egyptian gods.  I’m not so convinced of the impossibility of things these days.”

“I would know Jared.”

“So perhaps it was my own projection of you?” Jared tried to think about it, to pull together what was happening.  “Perhaps I was using a projection of the general to protect myself from the vision.”

“Why did you need protection in your vision?”

“I’m not sure.  It wasn’t like that time,” and they both knew he was talking about the way Jensen’s sarcophagus had pulled them both in, how it had become an instigator at the will of the people who had created it, “but there was something ominous there.  It was dark and searching and it had just found me when the General was there.” 

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You had it before I touched the god bowls.  Why?  You don’t normally have bad feelings about my visions.”

Jensen gave a small smile.  “I always have bad feelings about them Jared.  Some times they’re just more obvious than others.”  Jensen stood up then, grabbing a canteen and handing it over to Jared.  He settled next to Jared, close enough that their thighs pressed together.  Their shoulders brushed against each other as Jared drank.

“What are you thinking, Jensen?”  Jared held the canteen between his hands, staring down at it as he tried to get his bearings again.  Having Jensen near helped.  Being close to his lover, even when it wasn’t okay to reach out and touch him, made it easier for Jared to come back to himself after the visions were over.  “What has you spooked here?”

Jensen sighed and Jared watched him in his peripheral, not ready to meet his green eyes head on yet.  Jensen wasn’t avoiding eye contact though.  He was looking at Jared, watching him, openly and with concern.

“I’ve never felt anything like this, Jared,” he finally said, breaking the silence.  “The whole place feels hostile somehow, and it’s not supposed to.  I know that they practiced some type of sacrifice here, but this place wasn’t built for blood, it was built for life.  Something is happening here and it’s dark and powerful.”  He looked up at the acropolis, rising above the canopy of the forest, lit only by the light of the moon.  “And it’s hungry.”

Jared closed his eyes at Jensen’s words.  It was what he’d felt too.  He might second guess himself but he’d never doubt Jensen’s instincts.  “The vision brought me here,” he said softly, “another time, but here, following a group of young men as they brought offerings, sacrifices to the gods.  The first sacrifices were simple; grain or liquor.  The Mayans used to make the sacrificial drinks based on the occasion.  For their holidays they would have a special number and they’d only bring up liquor made with a specific number of grains.  They were very precise about it.  They brought it up to the acropolis and filled the god bowls with the offering.”

“It changed seasons around me as I left the building, and another group of young men went in.  This time, they were blood letting.  They cut their tongues with a knife and caught the blood on paper strips that they then burned in the god bowls.  After that, it felt like a much longer time had passed.  There was a ceremony taking place on the acropolis, but out in the open and the entire population of the city was there to watch.  All the lights were out in the city, but by the moonlight I could see the table was red with blood and a captured warrior from another tribe was brought forward.  They held him down and the priest cut out his heart.”

Jensen unconsciously rubbed a hand over his heart and Jared wanted to catch his fingers, press his own over the still beating muscle, but he closed his eyes instead.  “The priest placed the heart back in the body cavity with some other material and then he started building a fire.  Once it was lit, they passed torches down into the city, lighting it again with the sacrificial fire.  They only extinguished the fires like that once every 52 years.  Relighting them from the sacrificial fire was the start of the new 52 year calendar round.”

Jensen was shaking his head when Jared finally looked over at him.  “And this is what your friend Chris has somehow gotten himself into?”

Jared couldn’t help but smile at Jensen’s exasperated tone.  “Chris always did have a way with the locals.”

“You think your vision has anything to do with his disappearance?”

“When the fire was lit, I felt something, Jensen.  There was something there, like you said, hungry and dark, consuming the flames and the sacrifice that was made.  It wanted more.  I think it wanted me.”

Jensen’s hand came up to Jared’s cheek, pulling him forward slightly as he pressed their lips together in a soft kiss.  It was unexpected.  They’d always agreed that this thing between them had to remain behind closed doors.  Jensen had never seemed inclined to break that rule between them and if Jared hadn’t already known something was bothering Jensen, it would have been more than enough to give it away.

“It can’t have you.”  Jensen said softly, pressing their foreheads together, his eyes focused on Jared’s. 

Jared looked at him for a few moments, enjoying the beauty of the man that was his loyal companion, his lover, his partner in all things.  “I’m not going anywhere Green-Eyed,” Jared said softly.

Jensen kissed him one more time before dropping his hand and sitting back.  They didn’t talk anymore, both letting the quiet noise of the fire and the press of the jungle take their focus.  When deep night came, it found them side by side in their sleeping bags, the fire crackling close by, Jared’s body curled into a tight ball as if to make himself smaller, to hide himself from dreams that were sure to be coated in red, and Jensen, with one hand splayed protectively across Jared’s hip, ever the Green-Eyed General, keeping watch over the man he loved.

 

 

 

 

The morning dawned bright and early and their guide showed as promised.  Jensen explained their needs with Jared acting as translator between them when needed.  As much as Jensen applauded Jared’s ability to learn new languages, Jensen had a fair few under his belt as well, including Latin and Spanish.  He didn’t have the ability to adapt to the native dialect that Jared had though so he stumbled in places, unfamiliar words making him turn to Jared for help.  Jared reveled in such moments.  Jensen was always so sure of himself and while they were in Egypt, he was the one that had everything in control, leaving Jared to his studies.  His sites ran smoother than ever, with Akil to oversee things and Jensen to run go between for them, anticipating Jared’s mind and having Akil and his men already setting up what Jared would need before Jared voiced it. 

Seeing Jensen out of his element in the slightest was amusing.  As their guide left to get the supplies they asked for, he could see the way Jensen’s lips turned up, a small indication that he knew what Jared was thinking.

“Shall we?” Jensen asked, nodding toward the path leading away from the great temple.   

Jared started walking, his pack pulled up high on his back.  “We shouldn’t have any trouble making the rendezvous before nightfall tonight,” Jared confirmed as they began walking.  The path was wide enough here to allow them to walk side by side but he doubted it would stay that way for long.  “The next village was one that Chris was interested in.  The one after that is a two day journey.  If we can get there early enough tonight to ask around, we can get our supplies in the morning and still get a full day’s journey in.”

“Just stay close to me Jared.”

“I thought you liked the forest?” Jared asked, though he had no intention of getting too far away from his lover.  There was a reason Jensen came with him and while Jared was getting better at fending for himself, he was no match to Jensen when it came to a fight.

“I’m a desert warrior, Jared,” Jensen said in the General’s voice.  “I don’t like all these trees in my way.”

Jared knocked his shoulder into Jensen’s but smiled when the man looked his way.  “Looks like it’s going to be a long walk.”

Jensen smiled though and it was enough to make the beginning of their journey a happy one.

 

 

 

 

“Get down!”

Jared barely heard the words before Jensen’s arm pushed him down.  Jared barely caught himself with his hands before he fell face first into the tangled undergrowth.  Jensen was crouched above him, both his guns in hand as he watched the greenery around them.  Jared started to open his mouth to ask what happened when he looked up and saw the small dart sticking into the tree where Jared would have been if Jensen hadn’t reacted. 

Jensen looked down and caught his eyes as Jared picked himself up, imitating Jensen’s crouch.  “Go,” Jensen whispered the word and Jared didn’t hesitate.  He ran down the path, body pitched as low as he could.  Behind him, Jensen stood, gunshot blaring through the sudden oppressive silence that had descended on them in the last few moments. 

Jared didn’t look back as he moved but the gun fire was moving in his direction.  Jensen was following, slower than Jared was moving but surely making his was down the path.  Jared kept his eyes moving, looking for anything that might mean trouble up ahead but he never saw it.

When it came, it was a sharp prick to the back of his neck.  He plucked at it, pulled the dart from his skin and felt the way his body was suddenly heavy.  “Jense…” he tried to call out to his lover but only the first part seemed to have any strength and the rest was more of a sleepy whisper than a cry for help.  Strong hands took hold of him and as he fell to his knees, two men stepped out of the trees to grab him, pulling him from the path into the dark cover of the forest.

“Jared!” he heard Jensen’s scream but he couldn’t answer.

“Jared!” he closed his eyes against the pain in his lover’s voice but all he could do was sleep.

 

 

 

  
  
  
Jared woke, groggy and aching, the world spinning as he tried to sit up.  He felt hands on him and tried to jerk away, knowing instinctively that it wasn’t Jensen.

“Wooohhh boy, hold still.  You’re going to make yourself sick moving like that.”

Jared jerked his eyes open, forcing himself to breath to keep his stomach from heaving violently at the sudden light that coursed through his vision.  “Chris?”   

“What the hell are you doing out of Egypt?”

Jared didn’t protest when a canteen was pressed to his lips and Chris didn’t bother to wait for him to answer either.  “Don’t know what you’re doing here Jared, or why they brought you here, but we’ve got to get you out.”

“Did they bring anyone else in with me?” Jared asked as he tried to sit up.  He moved slowly and Chris’s hands came up to support him as he did.  Chris looked like a wild man, his beard unkempt and his tanned skin even darker with the grime of days unwashed.  His clothes were torn and he looked skinnier than Jared could ever remember seeing him, not starved but lean.  He was bruised and there were scrapes and cuts all over his body in various states of healing.  They were in a small building with only a single window, a handful of other people huddled in corners, eyes staring blankly out around them.  

“No,” Chris said softly.  “They didn’t say anything about someone else either.”

Jared let out a sigh of relief.  “Thank the gods for that.”

“You got the cavalry coming for you Jared?”

Jared smiled.  “Jensen.”  

“You convinced your foreman to travel to Yaxchilan with you?” Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jared didn’t answer, but he was sure the blush that covered his cheeks was enough to give Chris any missing information he might need about Jensen.  Chris knew him too well to hide it which was why he’d never said anything about Jensen to him.  He ignored the question and started with his own.

“What’s going on Chris?  We came looking for you, but your hotel wasn’t sacked and your site wasn’t attacked.  We were travelling out to the closest village you were looking into.”  He pointed to the people in the corner.  “These are the missing people you were looking for, right?”

Chris nodded.  “Yeah.  Jared, look.  The people that are involved in this, it’s pretty bad stuff.  The others won’t help, but with the two of us, we might be able to fight them off.  We need to get you out of here before they try to take you.”

“Take me where?”

Chris moved out of his crouch and sat down beside Jared, his back resting against the wall as he stretched his legs out beside Jared’s.  “How much do you remember about Waxaklahun Ubah Kan?”

Jared took a deep breath, trying to remember the days of throwing out random images and names to one another, tried to remember the books he’d been looking at before he set out to find his friend.  “The war serpent.  He’s related to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.    He was also known as Kukulkan, the feathered serpent.  There was a cult that developed around the worship of him.  In Chicken Itza he’s seen to be presiding over sacrifices and the god is known as the vision serpent.”

“A+ boy,” Chris said with a smile.  “Now the best as I can tell, the locals started to go missing.  I was working at Yaxchilan when one of my crew members told me he needed to leave.  His sister had disappeared.  She’d been around the site a few times and I offered to help him look.  When I started asking around though, it seemed like a lot of people had gone missing.”

“More than usual,” Jared said with a nod.  “Jensen found out the same thing when he started asking around.”

Chris nodded.  “I thought it might have to do with the Lacondon when I saw the god bowls.”

“It’s the logical connection,” Jared said.

“When I started talking to the villagers though I knew they didn’t have anything to do with it.  They were afraid through, Jared.  They knew what was happening but they wouldn’t talk about it.  And then one night we were attacked.  We were all hit with darts before anyone could raise an alarm.”

“And you woke up here.”

“Yeah,” Chris said as he looked down at his hands.

“What happened to your men?”

Chris didn’t look up and Jared understood.  Chris got crew the same way Jared did.  He didn’t buy their loyalty, he earned it.  His crew was friendly, some were family.  Anyone that came with him was someone Chris cared about.

“I couldn’t see what they did, but they took them, one each night until they were all gone.  I could hear them screaming; they were fighting for their lives, Jared but I couldn’t do a damn thing.”  He shook his head and Jared could see the grief in the set of his shoulders.  “Not one has come back.”

Jared nodded, his own feeling of foreboding pulling the silence closer to him.

Chris misread him and an arm was thrown over his shoulder, pulling him closer.  “I’m not gonna let that happen to you Jared,” he said as Jared looked over at him in surprise.  “I’ve always taken care of you.  Not gonna stop now just because you’re all grown up and think you know what the hell you’re doing.”

Jared let out a small huff of a laugh and shook his head. 

“What the hell were you thinking, coming out to the jungle, Jared?”  Chris went back to his initial question.     

“I got the picture you sent.  I tried to get in touch with you but they said you hadn’t been around in a while.  I knew there was trouble so I came to find you myself.”

“You knew I was in trouble from a picture I sent you when everything was still going just fine?”

Jared looked down, knowing that Chris would be able to see something else in his eyes if he was facing him.  “It seemed like a good time to get away from Egypt anyway,” he said.  “We all need a break, right?  You used to tell me that all the time, said I needed to get my head out of the sands of Egypt and come visit your jungle.”

“Jared?”

He took a deep breath.  “Something happened when I went to Egypt,” he heard Chris’s small intake of breath and he held his hands up quickly, “nothing bad.  I just … I’ve never known how to talk to you about it.  You already know enough about the skeletons in my closet,” He said with a small smile.

Chris answered it back, but there was concern in his eyes.  “You know you never have to hide that shit from me, Jared.”

“I just didn’t know how to say this Chris and you really didn’t need to know about it.  Now I guess we’re past that.”  He felt like an idiot.  Chris had always been there for him, but whereas Jim had taken him under his wing as a young professional and treated him as an equal with a slant towards the mentoring role, Chris had been a big brother and Jared hated feeling like he was suddenly thrust into the little brother role again. 

He took a deep breath.  “I started getting visions.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but when I touch certain artifacts I’ll get a vision of what something was like when it was still new and in use.  When I got the photograph you sent, I had a vision of Yaxchilan but there was something else there, something dangerous and I knew you were in trouble.”

“So you,” Chris paused, shaking his head as he started up again.  “You thought I was in trouble because of a vision and you came for me?”

“Yeah.”

Chris nodded.  “I don’t know what to say about this vision business, but it’s good to know you cared enough to come looking for me.”

Jared closed his eyes as he let his head rest against the wall of the building.  He didn’t expect everyone to believe in his visions.  He’d always found it easier to keep it hidden than to explain, except to those that had witnessed him getting caught up in one.  He’d always known Chris would have a hard time accepting it though and he’d never wanted to tell him.  He just had to hope that his friend wouldn’t think him crazy in the long run.  “I had another vision when we were at Yaxchilan.  I grabbed a god bowl and the vision took me back to watch the Mayan’s making sacrifices to the gods. In the first part, they were sacrificing grain, bread, and liquor but there was blood letting in the second.  The third part is where it turned strange.”

“That’s where it turned strange?”

Chris’s voice sounded a little choked but Jared ignored it.  “They were performing a human sacrifice.  They were starting the calendar round.”

“The calendar round?  You mean to say in your vision you saw them make a human sacrifice to start the 52 year calendar cycle?”

“Yeah Chris, I remember what the calendar round is.  The sacrifice was complete with the lighting of a fire in the chest of the victim and the relighting of the city lights from it.  The strange part was that there was some sort of dark presence hovering over the body before it caught sight of me and tried to attack me.”

“What happened then?”

“I … uh … I woke up.”

“So it was just a dream?”

“No, it was a vision Chris.  Look, think I’m crazy all you want but you know I’ve never been wrong on a dig.  Even when my instincts told me to look where everyone else said there was nothing, it always panned out.  You know that.  It was because of the visions.”

Chris just shook his head.  “For the sake of argument, let’s say these visions are accurate.  You think they’re trying to start a new calendar round?”

“I don’t know.  You’re the expert, Chris.  I’m telling you what I saw.”

"Tell me everything, Jared, just as it happened.”

Jared took a deep breath.  He knew Chris wasn’t really sure about his visions, but he was at least playing it out to the next step.  He was letting Jared discuss it, letting him talk about the visions and how they had played out in his head.

He told him everything about the first vision and how he’d tried to contact Chris and then what they’d found at the hotel.  The ended with the last vision he’d had sitting next to Jensen in the camp site at Yaxchilan.

“If what you saw was real Jared, we’re in for some trouble.”

Jared gave a mirthless laugh.  “I figured that already.”

“What you’re saying is you had a vision of the calendar round being performed.  These people, I think they’re from the Cult of the Kukulkan.  If they are and they think you’re having visions, they’d want to make you the last sacrifice to the great Vision Serpent.” 

“Won’t Jensen be thrilled,” Jared said with a slight hitch in his laugh, “this time they want to cut out _my_ heart.”

 

 

  


“You did what?” 

Jared smiled as he watched Chris’s reaction to his last story.  As adventurous as Chris was, his friend apparently had a very low opinion of Jared spelunking. 

“It got us where we needed to go,” Jared said with a shrug.  They were catching up on old times, nothing to do but wait to see what their captors would do next.  There were guards outside the door and while they outnumbered the guards, Jared could tell the people around them were in no condition to fight.  If they had the physical strength they didn’t have the mental capacity anymore.  Shock seemed to have eaten away at them and their enforced idleness had caused most of the remaining victims to withdraw into themselves.  Jared wanted to shake them into action, but he knew better.  It would take a long time to get over what they were witnessing, if they ever did.

“I think I need to have a talk with Jensen about what keeping you safe means.”

“I’ve never been hurt with him,” Jared said, looking up in confusion.

“Maybe, but this little trip ain’t exactly safe now is it?”

Jared shook his head, wondering how Jensen would take Chris’s overprotective streak.  He didn’t think he’d be offended by him, but it was hard to tell.  Sometimes the General would creep up into Jensen’s head and the archaic ideas he had always threw Jared for a loop. 

“Jensen isn’t trying to keep me from exploring the world.  He knows better than to try,” Jared insisted.  “I’m not a child Chris and I can go where I want.  That Jensen comes with me is a boon to my work and yes, he sees to my safety more often than not, but that doesn’t mean I need his approval to go where I want.” 

They could have still been at the University for all Chris seemed to think he was capable of.  Maybe it was because they were meeting this way.  Chris had never seen Jared away from the safety of Academia.  Even in their visits since school, they had always been in a museum or the safety of a hotel bar.  They’d never had time to see one another on a dig and Jared wondered if maybe he’d made a mistake in letting Chris continue to think of him as the same snot-nosed kid who couldn’t find his way around campus. 

Chris looked at him for a minute and sighed.  “Yeah, I know Jared,” the older man said softly.  “Just don’t think I’m capable of not wanting to see you safe.  I never saw you happier than when you were buried under a pile of scrolls in the museum.  Never would have thought to see you out in the field like this, no matter how much you’ve told me about it.”

Jared smiled.  “You should.  When we get out of this, we should find a dig together.”

“I still have Yaxchilan to work on,” Chris offered.  “Don’t tell me you aren’t itching to translate the lintels.”

Jared laughed.  “Maybe.  Jensen seemed to like the New World.”

“The New World?  Think your boy has some outdated thinking.”

“You have no idea.”

Chris opened his mouth to answer but the door to their small building was suddenly pulled open.  The people around them began shuffling to the back, trying to push as far away from the men coming in as possible.  Two men were inside the building and a third stood watch just outside.

They didn’t bother talking, but came forward, grabbing Chris by the shoulders.  Chris didn’t fight at first, but as he got outside the building he snapped loose, one fist knocking the first guard to the ground as he rounded on the other two.

Jared was already springing into action.  They weren’t expecting him to join in the fight so when he hit the guard, the man was completely off balance.  He was about to swing again when the guard’s eyes rolled back in his head and Jared saw the dart in his neck.  Jared looked up and just at the edge of the clearing he could make out the figure.

The blowgun was brought to the figure’s lips and the man Chris was fighting went down in a heap as well. 

“Come on, let’s get them out of here,” Jared said, moving back into the building to get the other captives. 

Jared tried to get a few people to follow him but they weren’t moving.  Fear held them in place and Chris seemed just as defeated in the attempts as Jared was. 

“Come on, Jared,” Jensen’s voice called into the room.  “They’re waiting for their sacrifice.  They aren’t going to wait much longer before they send more men to come looking.”

Jared looked up and Jensen was in the doorway, eyes moving across the open field in front of the building as he waited for them.  “Yeah, I’m working on it.”

“Come on,” he said, trying to pull one of the women towards him.  She shirked back from him even as he tried to get her out the door, “we need to get you to safety.”

They suddenly cowered behind Jared and he turned to see Jensen stalking into the room.  If he hadn’t known the man himself he might have been intimidated.  Even if Jensen was shorter than Jared, there was nothing small about his stature.  He was over six foot tall and he had strong, broad shoulders and a well muscled figure.  The General rested in his posture though and it was dark Egyptian eyes that stared back at him, menacing and commanding.  When Jensen came towards the prisoners, they scrambled to move behind Jared.  Jensen took one woman by the arm and shoved her out to Chris and though his friend scowled he took advantage as Jensen moved further into the building, the other captives moving through the door to avoid his menacing presence. 

“General?”  Jensen had never given Jared his real name from his life in Egypt but there was no mistaking the General was foremost in Jensen’s mind.

“Move it Jared,” he said stiffly, grabbing Jared’s arm and pushing him out the door. 

Chris was already moving through the woods and Jensen jogged up to the front of the column to lead them away.  Chris fell back to Jared’s side, his body language screaming at Jared for an answer.  His eyes caught Jared’s for a moment and there was nothing but anger in there.

“You’re gonna be explaining that one later.”

Jared looked up to the front of the group to where Jensen was moving and hoped he had one.  He’d never seen the General so close under Jensen’s skin, not since he’d first woken with the memories of being that man. 

He didn’t answer Chris, just kept up, trying to make sure the people they were bringing with them could keep up as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

They headed straight back to the ruins at Yaxchilan.  Jared wasn’t sure that was the best plan but as they stepped into the clearing Jared saw that Jensen had somehow managed to get in touch with the locals.  It was obvious some of the captives were known and for the first time Jared saw something more than fear from them.  Those that didn’t have family present seemed to huddle a little closer together, but as the villagers approached them they were swept away towards waiting trucks that would take them further inland.  They were wrapped in blankets and huddled together, surrounded by the familiar faces of their fellow villagers. 

“Do you want to go with them?” Jensen asked as he came away from the group to stand where Jared and Chris were watching.

Jared smiled at Jensen and the older man just shook his head, frowning.  He already knew Jared wasn’t going to leave.  “How did they know?” He asked, nodding towards the trucks.

“We were close to one of the villages when they attacked.  I went to get help but no one would go with me.  I told them I was going to find the missing people and they still wouldn’t come, but they gave me the dart gun and some supplies.  I told them if they were too cowardly to come with me then they could at least come here and wait for me,” Jensen said with a shake of his head. 

“If you came off as strong as you did in the hut it’s not a surprise,” Chris said, turning to glare at Jensen.  His arms were crossed over his chest and Jared could see the way his friend was ready to let loose on the other man.  “These people need compassion for what they’ve been through.  You have no idea how many friends and family they’ve lost to this.”

“If you’re going to act like a slave, I’ll treat you like one,” Jensen said, his eyes cold and hard.  “I got them moving when your compassion kept them huddled within, pressing to the back of a hut hoping someone else would die in their place.”

“Guys, stop it.  We got them out of there, but we still don’t have any idea what we’re dealing with,” Jared said, rubbing his hand over his forehead.  He could feel a headache building but he wasn’t sure if it was from the earlier drugs, the pressure to get away, of the rocky start the two men beside him seemed to be having.  He agree with Chris about what the victims needed, but Jared knew that Jensen had a lot more experience dealing with people who’d been traumatized like that.  It might not be the best way to handle it, but it had got them moving.  He looked up at Jensen, wondering suddenly when Jensen had ever had to learn to handle slaves like that, but he looked quickly away.  The General was still riding close under Jensen’s skin tonight and he didn’t think he’d like any answer he might get.  “We need to figure out our next move.”

A hand brushed up against the nape of his neck and Jared let himself relax a little into Jensen’s touch.  “Go relax for a minute at our camp.  The three of us can talk in private when they’re gone.”

Jared smiled at Jensen’s words and watched as he walked quickly away.  “Where is he headed now?” Chris asked.

“No idea, but probably looking for something I’ll need in ten minutes but haven’t thought of yet.”

“Jared, are you sure about him?”

“Chris, you have to trust me on this.  He got us out of there tonight.”

“We weren’t doing so bad on our own, Jared.”

Jared shook his head.  “No, maybe not, but they weren’t going to stay quiet long the way things were going.  They could have called for help and we might have gotten free, but we would have had to leave the others there.  Jensen took care of that.”

“He was still an ass, Jared.  Those people were terrified and he just started pushing them around.  What was that shit about acting a slave?”

“He’s from a different culture, Chris, I thought you’d have understood that by now.”

“Really?  He’s from a culture that still has slavery?”

“It’s a really long story, Chris and far more complicated than telling you I have visions.”  Chris turned to look at him then and Jared just shook his head.  “Let’s go sit down and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

“Alright boy, but when we get out of this, I expect a nice long dinner, some really good bourbon, and a really long list of all the things you haven’t told me.”

“That is a deal,” Jared gave him a small smile and then started walking through the clearing to the camp site he and Jensen had originally shared.

 

 

 

 

They didn’t make it back to the camp before Jared heard the trucks moving out.  It was dark enough to be problematic driving, but Jared knew it was still safer to get them away from the ruins.  At least he knew where Jensen had gotten off to. 

Jared and Chris walked in silence then, the night air giving a slight chill as the breeze rushed over sweat soaked skin.  Jared wanted to sleep more than anything else but he knew better than that.  They’d managed to bring everyone out, but whoever was behind it wasn’t done.  Even if they chose not to come back for their victims they’d go looking for more.

And Jared hadn’t forgotten what Chris said.  If they really were making a sacrifice to the feathered serpent, Jared, with his visions, was the perfect sacrifice.  If they’d been watching Jared and Jensen since they arrived at the ruins, they could have seen his vision.

A fire had already been started in their small camp.  He knew it was Jensen’s doing though he didn’t know how the man managed to get so many things done in such a short time. 

Jared took a seat, letting his back rest against the log where he’d had his vision just the night before.  It felt like a lifetime ago.  He let his head fall back and took a deep breath.  “I really need to start ignoring my visions,” Jared said quietly. 

“Think I’ve been telling you that since we met,” Jensen answered just as softly. 

Jared looked up to see Jensen coming into their circle with a tray in his arms.  He sat it down between Jared and Chris and then pulled out the canteens that were swinging over his shoulder, handing one to each of them.  “The locals left some stew for you.  Thought it would go down well enough even if you hadn’t been fed.  ”

“Thanks Jense,” Jared took a drink of water and pulled the bowl of stew closer.  It smelled amazing and he didn’t wait to see Chris’s reaction before he started in on it.  They were all quiet and Jared knew Chris was as focused on his food as Jared was.  They’d kept the captives fed, but Chris had told him it was the basics with not enough to feed everyone properly.  Jared knew better than to think Chris actually took as much as he needed when there were so many people that needed it. 

When he was slowing down on the bowl Jared finally looked up.  Jensen was sitting close but on another log, not letting himself get too close to Jared.  He was staring out into the darkness of the ruins and Jared couldn’t help but watch him for a minute.  The light caressed Jensen’s face, the fire dancing in the depths of his eyes as the moonlight brushed the rest of the world in pale blue light.  He was beautiful.  Jared could almost see him, dressed in traditional Egyptian clothes, standing above a field of battle, the faces of his men watching him with confidence and admiration. 

“They’ll be back for Jared,” Chris said as he set his bowl back on the tray Jensen had brought.

“What?” Jensen’s eyes turned from the scenery to other man.

“Jared said he had visions.  If they know anything about it they’ll want to use him as the last sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?   As in the cut your heart out kind?”

“Yeah,” Jared said, watching Jensen to see how he’d take the threat.

Jensen shook his head and smirked at Jared.  “At least it’s yours this time.”

“What the hell?” Chris demanded as Jared and Jensen both laughed.

“Nothing,” Jared said softly.  “So, what’s the plan Jensen?”

“They’re coming.  The night is too quiet.  There weren’t a lot of men at the hut to guard you but I think they probably started out with more, leaving it to just a few when the victims stopped fighting.” He looked to Chris who nodded his confirmation.  “There are a lot more of them out there.  We know about the god bowls so my guess is that the hut was just a staging location.  If this last sacrifice is as important as it sounds, they’ll want to do the real thing here.”

Chris nodded.  “I agree with your boy.  No matter how many they are, they’ll want the final event to be here.  They were collecting us for a reason.  The date must be right.  I think I was going to be their last sacrifice before they brought you here.  It makes sense that they were going to sacrifice me early so they would have time to bring you here and set up the show.”

“So they’re going to come here, and we’re just sitting here waiting for it?’ Jared asked.

Jensen shook his head.  “We’ve done what we can.  They know the jungle better than I do, Jared. I’m a desert soldier,” he looked around at the trees around them.  “All this greenery makes me nervous.”

“So why the hell aren’t we on a truck heading out of here?” Chris asked.

Jared shook his head.  “They’re killing people, Chris.  I can’t just walk away and wait for the authorities to deal with it.  Not anymore than you could let them look for a missing girl.” Jared looked over at Jensen.  “If we can find the priest and deal with him, maybe the rest would slink away.”

“That was my thought.  If we can cut the head off the snake, he might do a little thrashing around, but it will be effectively useless.”

“Y’all are crazy,” Chris said with a shake of his head.  “Thought I taught you more sense than to get yourself into situations like this.”

“Guess not,” Jared answered with a grin.  “Seems I took more from your example than your lectures.”

Chris groaned.

“Get some rest,” Jensen said, not looking away from the clearing.  “You need some strength and I’ll let you know when I see something.”

Jared thought about arguing but he knew better.  Whatever would happen tonight would happen.  He trusted Jensen to get them through it.  Chris rolled his eyes but he was shifting around trying to find a more comfortable position.  He was smart enough to hold his tongue when the advice was good. 

Jared took a deep breath, trying to get his racing mind to stop.  He knew Jensen was keeping his distance for a reason, but Jared couldn’t help himself as he reached a hand out, letting it rest lightly on Jensen’s thigh for a minute.

Jensen didn’t look at him, but his knuckles brushed over Jared’s softly.  He turned his hand over and pressed against Jared’s, holding it against him for a moment.  Jared pulled his hand back and it was then that Jensen looked at him.  Concern filled his eyes but the love and affection that radiated from him was so strong it was enough to ease the tightness that had been resting in Jared’s chest.  Jensen gave him a small smile, then turned his eyes back out to the jungle.

When Jared turned away from Jensen to try to find a more comfortable resting spot, he saw Chris’s eyes open and knew that his friend had been watching the interaction between them.  Chris rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.  Instead a small smile crept onto his face and he finally let himself sleep.

Jared followed soon after.

 

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
“It’s time Jared.”

Jensen stood over him and Jared blinked his eyes open, mind already rushing to catch up to their situation.  Jensen was already moving away from him, his eyes going to the fire that was already lit at the top of the acropolis. 

“Chris,” Jared reached out and grabbed at Chris’s arm.  His friend’s eyes came open quickly.  He’d always been a light sleeper.  “Jensen says it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

Jared didn’t answer as he stood up and moved over to Jensen.  He came up behind him, letting his chin rest of Jensen’s shoulder as he followed Jensen’s line of sight to the top of the ruins.  Jensen turned slightly, looking at him with a small smile on his lips.  Jared knew he understood what he was telling him, that Chris knew about them, that it was alright to be affectionate in front of him, that if he died on top of some ancient ruin he was glad to have Jensen there at his side through it all.  There were no words for the joy and love and peace he’d felt in the last five years of his life, but Jensen’s smile said it all.

“Now what are we going to do?”

Jensen turned his eyes back to the ruins as Chris came to stand next to Jared.

“Wait for them to come.”

“You think they will?”

“They’ve been watching us all night,” Jensen said softly.  “They’re coming for us, whether it’s Jared because of his visions or they just want one of us to sacrifice, they’re coming.”

“Tell me again why we aren’t running?”  Chris asked.

“We can’t get close to the Priest unless we’re part of the sacrifice.”

“You got a funny way of sharing a plan.”

Jensen stepped away from Jared and rolled his neck from side to side as if to loosen the building tension.  “Learned it somewhere down the line.”

“Yeah?” Chris asked, his temper flaring.  Jared knew he couldn’t stop it.  He knew there was something building between Jensen and Chris but he was at a loss and even if it wasn’t the time for it, he stepped back to watch it run its course.  “From who?”

“Maybe from Jared when he traveled across the desert to cut my heart out and give it to the gods.” Jensen snarled at Chris.

“And yet you still have a beating heart,” Chris pushed into Jensen’s space.  “Seems like your plan is just gonna get him killed. Maybe you don’t give a damn about what happens to him-“

Jensen struck forward, his fist coming hard and fast into Chris’s jaw.  He staggered back at the shock of the blow and Jensen didn’t wait, he followed it up with a hand to Chris’s throat, pushing him back into the trunk of a massive tree. 

“I walked into a tomb knowing I would lose my immortal soul because he asked it.  I’ve crossed deserts and oceans to be with him and I crossed time to find him.  Do not think you know who I am and what I am willing to do to keep him alive,” the General said, his anger pulsing with a power that Jensen rarely allowed others to feel.  “Stand down scribe, before I find it any harder to remember you are important to him.”

Chris’s eyes were wide as Jensen took a step back.  Jensen didn’t allow him to speak though.  He looked over at Jared, somehow knowing that Chris wouldn’t take advantage and jump him when his back was turned.  “They will come for us and take us to the Priest.  When they do, don’t touch anything Jared.  I still feel the warnings here.  Whatever they’re trying to incite, the old gods are watching.”

Jared nodded as Jensen walked to the farthest edge of their camp.  Chris came to stand beside him again, anger in his stance but Jared knew him well enough to see that he was forcing it down.  “A good dinner, a better bourbon, and a long story Jared,” Chris reminded him.  He wasn’t letting Jared off the hook for all of this, but he knew when to push something and when to let it rest.

“Better plan on staying the week if you want it all.”

“I’ll stay a damn month if I have to.  No secrets from now on Jared.”

“Yeah, I know.”

There was movement on the acropolis and they all tensed.

“Jared?” Jensen turned to look at him, his back to whatever was coming their way.  “You know I’ll protect you.”

The words weren’t a question but there was a need for reassurance and Jared nodded.  “Yeah I know.  You’ll protect Chris too, right?”

Jensen smiled and he was himself again, Jared’s companion, his lover, the Green-Eyed.  “The things I do for you,” he said with a roll of his eyes. 

They didn’t have long to wait before their camp was surrounded.  The men were in regular clothes, torn and dirty from the night’s activity in the jungle.  They didn’t wear elaborate face painting or jewelry, nothing that would distinguish them as part of the ceremony.  They held dart guns in their hands, obviously at ease with the use of them.  Jensen was the first to hold his hands up in gesture of surrender.  Jared followed immediately after but it was obvious Chris was having a hard time with it. 

Jensen turned his head slightly, never taking his eyes from the man that walked into their camp, his bearing and mannerisms marking him as the man in charge.  His brain immediately translated Jensen’s words from the Hebrew to English.  Chris jolted at Jensen’s use of the language, but his hands went up as he translated as well.  ‘You can’t protect him later if you get hurt now.’  He had no idea what Jensen was planning, but he was clearly expecting Chris to go along with it and to make sure Jared wasn’t hurt later.

One of these days he was going to have to find a way to make his lover and his best friend realize he could take care of himself. 

The men started herding them out of their camp and out into the cleaning.  They were walking towards the acropolis and Jared shivered at their approach.  He’d felt it in his visions, but whatever it was that waited atop the ruins was almost alive with need and hunger. 

Jensen looked over his shoulder as he took to the first step.  “Don’t touch anything.”

Jared smiled, doing his best to look harmless and innocent but Jensen’s smirk just proved how well he knew him. 

“Something you ain’t telling me?”  Chris asked as he came to walk beside Jared.

“Just that I have a problem keeping my hands to myself sometimes.”

Chris shook his head.  “Knew that since I got you drunk the first time.”

Jensen laughed ahead of them and Jared shook his head.  Trust the two of them to make jokes at his expense as they faced certain death.  The fact that they were made him feel better.  If they could joke there was hope and Jared wasn’t ready to die, no matter who was at his side.

As dark as everything was, as much as he knew the circumstances, it wasn’t until they reached the top of the acropolis that fear finally hit him.  He trusted Jensen to get him free, to get him out when things got too bad.  Now though, facing the sacrificial table that the men had brought up, seeing the dark brown stains of blood that had seeped into the surface, he knew they meant to hold him down and kill him.  They meant to light a fire in his chest and use it to bring about the old religion.   They meant to sacrifice him to the dark presence that had been haunting his dreams since he’d first touched Chris’s picture.

He took a step back and was pushed brutally forward by one of the men.  He swallowed against his fear and took a deep breath.  The top of the acropolis wasn’t huge but there were fifteen men at the top, all watching the three of them with a sense of focus that was terrifying.  These men had sacrificed innocent people in some sort of lust for the old ways and Jared couldn’t understand that.

A murmur went up around them as a man came up from the small building where Jared had first seen the god bowls.  Unlike the others, he wore face paint and an archaic headdress.  The man turned to look at Jared and his eyes burned with an intensity that had him stepping back again. 

His smile was malicious and Jared felt his arm gripped from the side, Chris holding him close as Jensen stepped up between Jared and the priest.

“The time has come at last,” the priest spoke, his words thick.  It took Jared a few minutes to translate the words though he could see Chris was following along without pause.  He couldn’t see enough of Jensen to know if he was able to take what little he knew of the language and make sense of it.  “We were going to sacrifice the first one,”  he continued, nodding towards Chris, “but then the great Kukulkan spoke to us and said another would come, a man who could see worlds not longer in existence, so we held on, hoping you would arrive in time.  The great Kukulkan was not wrong and when you arrived we knew it was your life that would bring his power to full bloom again.  You should not fear vision-bearer.  You will make a fitting sacrifice.”

“Over my dead body,” Chris said at his side.

The man smiled.  “Then your sacrifice will be a boon to this day.  The serpent has need of strong blood.  You will help him rise from among the fallen gods.”

Two men step closer to Jared and Chris and the others begin moving around the top of the acropolis, dousing the torches they’d carried.  Jensen looked back at Jared and closed his eyes and Jared understood.  It got harder to see as the afterimage of each torch burned into his retina as they disappeared.  When the last torch went out they were all slightly blinded by the lack of light.  Except Jensen. 

“Jen,” he breathed the name, but it was all he needed.  Jensen went into motion, knocking into the guard in front of him.  He went down into a heap with two others that had been in the way.  Chris pushed Jared forward a few steps into the emptiness that Jensen had left in his wake.  Chris pushed one guard down the long flight of stairs that led up to the acropolis and his fist was flying for the second.  His aim was slightly off, still fighting for his vision but he’d been in enough brawls that his motions were practiced and he hit the man hard in the stomach.  He doubled over and Chris gave him an uppercut to the chin that kicked him out of the fight.

Jensen had the priest backed up against the table and somewhere a knife had come into play.  Jared started to move towards him but another man blocked his path.  Jared wasn’t the fighter that Chris and Jensen were, but he wasn’t inexperienced either.  He ducked a fist, moving faster than most people thought he could because of his height.  He followed it up with a blow of his own to the kidney.  He ignored the sting of his hand and looked for his next combatant. 

“Jay!” Chris yelled and Jared ducked to the side, scrambling out of the way of another of the cult members.  He landed a fist in Jared’s stomach and he was doubled over.  The next fist never came though.  Chris was standing over him, the other guard pushed back as Chris protected him. 

“Thanks man,” he said as he straightened up to his full height again.

“Think we’re even now,” he grinned over his shoulder.

Jared nodded as he looked over at Jensen.  He had a horrifying moment of panic as a knife blade came rushing down, but as he turned to stop it, he realized Jensen was no longer on the table, but standing over the priest. 

There was a primal scream as the knife found its way home and Jared felt the whole of the acropolis still with him.  Jensen was panting through the exertions and Chris grabbed at Jared’s arm, is back to Jared’s as he continued to watch the men around them.

Jensen’s eyes turned up and he found Jared, the moonlight giving enough light now to make out the details that he hadn’t been able to see before.  There was a slice across the front of his white shirt where the knife must have come close to catching skin.  His fingers itched with the need to see if that was true or if there was a stream of blood running down his chest to pool in the dark fabric of his pants, unseen in the pale light.   

Jensen came out from around the table and he was there at Jared’s side, his fingers moving over Jared’s skin, looking for injury.  Jared did the same, his hands coming away from Jensen’s shirt with a dark wetness.  “Jensen, you’re hurt.”

“I’m fine Jared,” He said softly.

“Jared,” Chris grabbed his arm and as Jared looked up, he saw the priest moving on the table, a lighter lit in his hand as he dropped it to his chest.  His shirt immediately caught fire and though he screamed, his body didn’t thrash around with the pain.  Jared’s eyes turned up as he watched the smoke rising, the feeling of hungry eyes watching them. 

Jared’s felt the world shifting under him and knew it was an earthquake.  He felt Chris grab his arm and Jensen had the other as they stumbled, trying to move away from the stairs.  Jensen pulled Jared closer and Chris lurched, trying to keep up with them.  He pushed them forward as he moved, Jared and Chris both going down in a heap.  Jensen pulled at them, trying to get them up, but then Jared reached out, grabbing something to help haul himself up and keep his balance as the whole of the acropolis danced under them.

The quake stopped suddenly and Jared heard the whisper of Jensen’s angry retort of, “Damn it Jared, I said not to touch anything,” before the world shifted once more.

 

 

 

 

They stood under the full moon, the acropolis no longer a ruin in an uninhabited part of the jungle, but rather the heart of a community at its height.  The portable table that the priest had been using was replaced by the original stone table, the marks of blood and ash still fresh against its porous surface. The sacrificial knife sat on the table, gleaming with the cold blue reflection of the moon’s light.

Jared felt Jensen still standing before him,  Jensen moving quickly to press his back to Jared’s chest, keeping him close against whatever was to come.

“This is never a good sign,” Jensen said softly.

Jared would have laughed if someone hadn’t grabbed his arm.  He turned as much as he could with Jensen glued to his chest and found Chris beside him.

“Really not good,” Jared answered his lover.  “Chris?”

“What the hell just happened?”

“We’re in Jared’s vision,” Jensen answered.  His voice was harder the way Jared remembered it when he had protected him the night Jensen swore he hadn’t been in the vision.  His shoulders were squared and his body tense with the rigid discipline that marked him so different from the man that Jared knew. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m sorry Chris.  It’s never taken anyone else except Jensen and I always thought that was because of the circumstances.  It shouldn’t have caught either of you this time.”

The General gave a small huff in front of him.  “I told you before I wasn’t about to let you go off into danger without me.  Did you think I would protect your soul any less passionately than you protected mine?”

Jared didn’t have time to answer when a figure came forward from the dark.  He gaped at the sight of the creature that slithered out from behind the stone table.  A serpent with wide eyes, snapping jaw, and feathered wings, the god Kukulkan eyed them all as if deciding which of them would make the best snack.  In all his experience with the written word coming to life, he’d never expected the feathered serpent to look like the creature the Mayans had depicted in their art, but it was exactly what he was seeing.

“You, I cannot touch,” The serpent spoke softly, as it looked at Jensen.  “We are not the only old gods and yours are no more forgiving than we are.”

Jensen stood straighter, pulling Jared behind him.  “You cannot have him.”

The serpent’s mouth pulled up at the corners in a mockery of a smile.  “Your gods protect you, not him.  His perfect sight, his visions of worlds that no longer rule, he is one of mine.”

“No,” Chris said coming out from behind the two of them.  He walked away from them, pulling Kukulkan’s attention from them.  “This isn’t the world you knew.  You can’t just come sweeping in and try to make it like it was.” 

Jared had no idea what he was supposed to do but Jensen was edging them away from the serpent god. 

“These are my people,” the serpent was close to Chris, far closer than Jared liked, but it was obvious he’d already decided on Jared.  He didn’t think the god was likely to strike Chris now.  “I will decide when it is time to return.”

“The world won’t accept you,” Chris tried again, “the world doesn’t need you.”

Jared realized they were standing on the other side of the table and he looked down, seeing the knife before him.  He took the knife in hand, the handle feeling too warm to his touch.  He looked at Jensen who’d gone still when Jared touched the weapon.  Jensen looked at the knife and back at the serpent and Jared could see a plan forming in those eyes.  A plan that, years of getting in and out of trouble together, Jared could read plainly.

Jensen moved to the other side of the table and Jared waited only until he was clear before he yelled.  “Hey!  If you want me, here I am.  If you think I’m going to go willingly though, you really do need a seer to help you see.”

The serpent turned to look at him, hissing as it swung into motion.  Jared brandished the knife to taunt him and the god was moving.  Chris was coming up to Jensen’s side and that was all Jared had the time to notice before Kukulkan was in front of him.

“Do you think you are strong enough to kill a god?” 

Jared smiled, though he was terrified.  “Why don’t we find out?”

The serpent god hissed as it reared back and then Jensen was moving forward.  As it lashed forward trying to get to Jared, Jensen threw himself across the neck.  Chris moved with him and the two of them held on as the serpent god tried to buck them free.

“Now Jared!”

Jared was already moving, the knife raised as he reached the section of the snake before him.  The knife cut deep as he swung down.  The snake god tried to rear back but Jensen and Chris held it close.  The tail tried to slash at them but Jared was able to duck before it hit.  He continued to slash at the snake’s body until it was severed but he didn’t stop.  The snake god stopped moving but he knew he couldn’t stop yet.  It might be out but it was a god.  The physical body underneath him wasn’t what it seemed. 

Jensen moved over to him, his hands directing Jared as he slit the serpent open, looking for the heart.

“You know a lot about snake anatomy,” Jared said as they found the organ.

Jensen smiled, but it was tight.  “The Pharaoh had a lot of enemies and snakes were a common adversary.”

Jared didn’t ask anymore.    He brought the knife across the muscles and flesh until the heart was finally free.  He pulled the heart out and moved away as Jensen and Chris pushed the body out of the way.  Jensen pulled the knife out of the snake’s body and as Jared placed the still beating heart on the sacrificial table, Jensen slammed the knife into it, pinning it there.

They stepped back away from it, Jensen reaching for Jared as he came around the other side of the table.  Jensen pushed both Jared and Chris behind him and they watched as other figures began to come out of the dark.  A Jaguar came forward, eyeing them all as it strutted past the serpent body.  It began to twitch and the jaguar gave it one look before snarling at the three of them.  Jared felt himself falling backward, his vision spinning.  His last glance showed him the jaguar snapping his jaws around the serpent, rending flesh and drinking blood.

 

 

 

Jared woke on the top of the acropolis, shivering as he tried to sit up and reorient himself with the waking world.  The moon was still high in the night sky.  Jensen was already sitting up, his eyes scanning the ruins.  There was no one else there; the feathered serpent’s followers had already descended into the jungle when their priest died. 

Jensen stood up and moved to Jared’s side, his fingers dancing over Jared’s skin to see that he was alright.  Jared brought his hands up to Jensen’s face, pulling him close.  He kissed him deeply, taking the moment to remind them both that they were alive.

“Don’t mind me,” Chris groaned beside them. 

Jared let out a huff of a laugh against Jensen’s lips and felt Jensen pulling away.  He brought his lips to Jared’s forehead first though, then stood up, leaning over Chris to pull him up to his feet.

They made their shaky way down the acropolis, leaving the body of the priest where it still sat, flames engulfing it in the darkness of the jungle. 

They managed to get to their camp and none of them suggested going any further.  Jared was stumbling and Chris wasn’t much better.  Jensen was the only steady one but Jared could feel his exhaustion as he let his body slump down beside Jared.   

Jared barely had time to think of anything before his eyes were closing.  He reached out, letting his head rest against Jensen’s chest as he felt Chris’s hand on his back.  Knowing that the two men he was closest to were safe for the night, he was able to fall into peaceful sleep.

 

 

 

  

Their hotel was a lot nicer than Chris’s and Jensen had no problem taking credit for that.  Jensen called it good planning while Chris called it a waste of money for a room he’d never stay in.  Jared just sat at the table, relaxing after a steak dinner and watching the good natured bickering that went back and forth between them.     

The news was good.  After making their way back to the city and recovering from their exhaustion, they’d made their way out to the villages where they’d found the other victims being cared for.  Some were doing better than others, but they were all more aware of the world around them and the shock was wearing off some.

The more Jared learned the less he liked.  Children had been taken, men and women who had full lives.  It sounded like the Cult of Kukulkan had taken anyone that came across their path.  The people that were the most afflicted were the ones that had been in the hut the longest, watching people taken to die, knowing they wouldn’t survive it.  It had eaten away at their resistance until there was nothing left.

Free of the horrors, Jared hoped they’d learn to be okay again. 

The body of the priest was never found.  They reported it to the authorities, but whether his followers came back for him or the priest’s body was taken by wild animals, they would never know.  It was enough for them to know that he was gone, as was the threat of the Cult of Kukulkan.  Without the priest, just as Jensen has suspected, the followers had dispersed back into their normal lives.  As much as Jared wanted to get justice for the people they’d killed, there was no way to find the men and make them pay for it.  They had to be content with the knowledge that they were no longer a threat.  They’d managed to stop them from taking any more captives.  More importantly, they’d stopped the priest from finding a worthy sacrifice to bring about the rise of Kukulkan.  Maybe the world needed more faith, but Jared didn’t think the feathered serpent was the right god to be praying to.   

Which left Jared and Jensen sitting in their hotel room with Chris, taking in the luxury of the accommodations.  Over dinner that night Chris listened, slack jawed, as Jared told the tale of how he’d met Jensen.  Even though Chris believed Jared about his visions now, he listened in disbelief as he talked about the General and the Pharaoh they’d faced.    

He asked questions half the night, testing Jensen, until he’d finally fallen asleep on the settee in Jared’s room.  Jared smiled down at him, pulling a blanket off his bed to cover his friend up.  Jensen was in the other room and Jared couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine.  It was always like that, after an adventure when they were well again, free to touch and hold.  If they were at home, he’d ask the staff to leave him food he could fix himself and then give them a few days off. 

There were some advantages to being away from home.

When he stepped into the room he could sense something was different immediately.  He looked out the door to the balcony and saw Jensen standing there, but knew from the stance that it wasn’t really him. 

Jensen had always been so good at keeping the general from taking over his life and Jared wondered now just how often he had to suppress him.  Was it the old gods that had brought him forth or just his fear about this adventure?

He didn’t know but he knew he was just as safe with his General as he was with Jensen.  They were one, but not really the same.  He knew that now, though It’d taken five years to figure it out.  They weren’t something you could separate, but they were the accumulation of two different lives, two different men who might have been. 

He walked up behind the General and leaned forward, letting his chest press against his back.  His hands came up on either side of his lover’s, holding him against the railing.  He dropped his head down to the General’s shoulder and let his weight sag slightly, his whole body pressed into him. 

“The old gods are so demanding,” the General said softly.  “I knew they would want you when they saw your visions.  I knew I couldn’t let them have you.”

Jared took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of him in.  “You didn’t.  I’m safe now,” he reassured.

The other man turned in his arms and Jared stood up taller.  He wasn’t slouching but the General’s posture made him feel it anyway, no matter that he was shorter than Jared.  His hand came up to Jared’s neck and pulled him down quickly, his mouth pressing to Jared’s, demanding entrance.

It was harder than he was used to with Jensen, but it wasn’t unwelcome.  He allowed the General to plunder his mouth, one hand pulling at Jared’s hair to get him where he wanted him.  The other hand moved over the expanse of Jared’s back, pulling up his shirt so that he could reach warm flesh. 

Jared moaned into it before the General pulled away, his eyes dark and passion filled.  “Take your clothes off for me Quick Tongue,” his voice was deeper than Jared had ever heard it and he stepped back into the room to obey the command.

The General smiled as he watched his shirt fall away.  When his pants fell in a puddle at his feet, he walked around Jared, eyeing him like he would a slave on the block.  His fingers pressed into Jared’s neck and he was being opened again, Jensen’s tongue forcing past his lips and claiming his mouth.

His hands began to pull at Jensen’s clothes, stripping the buttons with practiced ease.  The General stopped moving and Jared felt his hands shaking with desire as he was allowed to undress his lover who was suddenly still beside him.

He let his lips trails where his fingers passed, his hands brushed over the flat plains of his chest and abdomen, before he dropped to his knees and worked the belt loose from his pants.  He pulled the buttons open and stopped before pushing his pants down.  He sat back on his heels and nuzzled at the General’s stomach, taking in the smell of him, the feel of his skin, the hard press of his body against Jared’s cheek.  The General’s fingers twined through his hair, his grip steady as he tightening his fingers and relaxed them slowly.  Jared’s hips wanted to follow that rhythm and it wasn’t until his head was pulled back that he realized they were.  The General looked down at him, eyes burning and Jared’s hands moved of their own accord, pulling his trousers all the way down. 

The hand at the back of his head pulled him forward and he wet his lips as he went willingly.  His hands came up to cup the base of Jensen’s cock and then he was taking him into his mouth.  Neither of them were going to last long like that though and when the General pulled him away, Jared let himself be pushed back onto the bed.

The General’s hands were just as sure as Jensen’s always were, but they were less tender and more desperate.  He took care to open Jared up slowly though, tormenting them both with exquisite kisses that left him drowning in need. 

When he was finally ready he slid onto his back and pulled Jared up onto him.  He felt his face flush with the way the General watched him, but strong hands gripped his hips and as he felt the same sense of completion when he was finally seated as he did when Jensen was with him. 

He moved his hips, small little motions to force the General to move and then he was being guided up and down his cock, Jared’s head thrown back as he pressed in slow and deep. 

The General pulled him down to his chest, lips meeting as they continued to move together.  When he pulled back, he kept Jared close, Jared’s forehead resting against the General’s and his eyes were caught on his lips.

“Jared,” he breathed out softly, “what you do…”  One hand was gripping his hip so hard it would bruise but Jared didn’t want to stop him.  He wanted to wear that mark.  “Didn’t come so far to lose you now.”

“Never,” Jared answered, his breath harsh from the raw need that was so apparent in the General’s eyes.  “Yours, always yours.”

 He crushed their lips together and it was then he felt the General’s hips stutter as he found his release in Jared’s body.  A strong hand reached between them but it took barely a touch before Jared was coating them both with hot white stripes. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Jensen finally let out a shuttered breath.  Jared was pushed carefully back onto the bed and soft kisses were pressing into his eyes and his throat before they reached his lips.

He took a deep breath as he felt his lover pulling away.   Jared closed his eyes and when he felt a warm cloth across his stomach he didn’t have to open his eyes to know that Jensen was back with him again.

“You’re going to be blue tomorrow,” Jensen said softly as he crawled in the bed beside Jared.

“Yeah,” he answered with a smile.

Jensen let out a small laugh as he turned over to his back and Jared let his head rest over Jensen’s heart with an exaggerated sigh.

“Shouldn’t I be doing that tonight?”

“I still have rights.”

“Do you?”

“I didn’t actually lose my heart.  They were just talking about it.”

“I didn’t lose mine either.”

“Yes you did.  Just another body of yours.  That still counts.”

Jensen’s body was shaking slightly and Jared knew it was suppressed laughter.   “Good night Jared,” his lover finally sighed.

“Good night Jensen.”

 

 

 

The next morning Jared woke to the unexpected feeling of Jensen tensing underneath him.  He raised his head to look up at his lover, but Jensen’s eyes were on the door that stood open between their two rooms. 

Chris looked down at the two of them and smirked.  Jared was never more aware of the fact that the sheet was pulled down to his hips and the blanket had been kicked completely off the bed at some point the night before.  In fact, he was certain that Chris was seeing not only his mostly naked body, but the General’s fingerprints as well.

Chris was standing there, freshly showered and already dressed for the day.  It was rather unfair that his friend was so completely clothed while they were in nothing but a sheet.  The blush that covered his face didn’t count.

“You look pretty good Egypt, for a dead guy,” he said with a grin.

Jared’s concern burned away at that comment.  As much as Chris knew about them, it was one thing to see a kiss and another to find him in bed with a man.  That he was taking it in stride like this spoke of his good nature and the friendship that had grown between them for so long.

“So do you,” Jensen’s voice didn’t betray anything but humor, “for snake food.”

Chris laughed out loud at that and then he was pulling the door shut.  “I’m ordering breakfast in the room for a half hour from now.  Do what you gotta do quickly.”

The door closed between them and Jared just watched it go, a shocked expression on his face.  Jensen sat up beside him and pulled him close, brushing their lips together.  “He’s your best friend Jared and he’s known for years.  Did you expect him to act any differently?”

Jared shook his head as he looked up at Jensen.  He pressed their lips together again but barely pulled apart to speak.  “I love you Jensen.  No matter what name I call you, no matter which incarnation, I love you.”

Jensen pulled back slightly to look at him and Jared let his eyes show everything he was feeling, the love and gratitude, the adoration and desire.  Jensen was his everything.

“I love you too Jared,” he said with a soft smile.  He gave Jared one last kiss before standing up and offering him a hand out of bed.  “Now, I don’t know about you but I don’t trust Chris not to try to come in and get us when breakfast arrives.  I’d prefer to be dressed when that happens.”

Jared laughed but allowed himself to be pulled away from the bed.  After all, there was a shower with their name on it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day Chris had been making arrangements to get his crew back to Yaxchilan and Jared had spent his time going through some of Chris’s writing about the site and translating what he could.  His hands itched for his translation books, familiar with use, but Chris had his own and they worked just as well. 

When dinner came around they were sitting at the table again, full and satisfied.  Jensen had been oddly quiet all day, keeping to himself and leaving Jared to his translations.  Not that he didn’t normally give Jared his space when he was working, but Jared always knew where Jensen was.  He wondered if Jensen was ready to return back to his homeland, or if there was something more profound that he needed to address.  The way Jensen watched Chris from time to time made him wonder if Jensen ever felt jealous of the two of them.

“If you don’t stop glaring I’m going to think there was a lover’s tiff,” Chris said as he smirked into his cup.

Jared looked away from Jensen and shook his head.  “I’m not glaring.”

“You were, actually,” Jensen replied with another smirk. 

Why he thought the two of them meeting would be a good idea was beyond him.  “I’m just wondering what’s next.”

Chris looked away.  “What I said in the jungle, the offers still out there.  You’re more than welcome to squat on my site for a while.”

Jared could see the nervousness in him, the way his eyes stayed downcast, his hair hiding his eyes as he sipped his drink.  Jared looked over at Jensen and his lover was looking away as well. 

“What do you think Jensen?”  Jared asked softly.  “Is it time to return home?”

Jensen stood up and walked to the window, turning his back to the two of them.  Jared watched him for a moment, watched the way tension filled his frame and knew the darkness in his eyes.  It wasn’t the same sort of tension he was used to seeing though.  One hand played lightly at the window frame while one of the fingers on his other hand tapped at the glass he was holding.

“I got a wire from Jim today.  He said he’d be more than happy to start working on an exhibit of Mesoamerican art, if we happened to need a little more time.”

Jared was across the room before he realized he’d gotten out of his chair.  Jensen turned to look at him and his smile was breathtaking.  He didn’t try to stop himself as he pushed into his lover, lips claiming him.  Jensen didn’t hesitate to wrap one arm around him, pulling him closer, tongue parting his lips in a kiss that was everything Jensen was, caring and warm and strong and so damn attentive.

When he finally pulled back, Jared blushed at Chris’s whistle from across the room.  “Well at least I know why he keeps you around, Egypt.”

Jensen’s eyes looked over his shoulder and his smile was teasing.  “Stay around a while longer tonight and maybe you might, Oklahoma.”

Jared pushed at Jensen lightly before his lover smiled up at him.  “We’re settled here until tomorrow night.  Our provisions are already on the way to the campsite and Jim has given me the name of a local museum along with his contacts there to get you access to whatever resources you need.”

A knock came from the adjoining room and Jensen walked away with a kiss to Jared’s temple as he went.  Jared watched him go, feeling his chest puff up with pride and admiration for the man he loved.  He walked back to the table to join Chris and found his best friend shaking his head. 

“You could have told me you were already considering the offer.  I wouldn’t have been pussyfooting around it the last three days if you had,” Chris huffed.

Jared shook his head.  “I haven’t even thought about what was next until tonight.”

“Then why’d he do all that?”

“Because he’s Jensen.  Because he always knows what I’m going to do before I do.”

“Huh,” Chris said, taking a drink as he considered Jared’s words.  “So you and Egypt are gonna be staying a while?”

Jared laughed at the nicknames Chris and Jensen had started using for one another.    “If you don’t mind an Egyptologist and a mummy on your hands, then we’re yours.”

Chris smiled.  “Glad to have the both of you on board.  So long as you remember it’s my site.”

"Oh come on, Chris that was only the one time.”

“What was?” Jensen asked as he walked back in.  He handed Jared a slip of paper as he sat down between Chris and Jared. 

“Jared must have been all of seventeen,” Chris said with a smirk.  “I was on my first solo dig and I had the stupid idea of asking him to come along.  Told him to keep his nose down and it would all work out, but the snot nosed kid tries to take my dig…”

He lost track of the words as he unfolded the paper.  The note from Jim was short and to the point, telling him to take care of the General, outlined what funding he’d been able to put together for a short term dig at Yaxchilan that Chris would need to approve before he sent word back to Jim, and another comment to keep himself safe and to stop touching every damn thing when Jensen told him not to. 

He laughed lightly at the words and looked up at the two men.  Chris was telling Jensen about the dig, which he had not stolen thank you very much.  He had simply given advice and it wasn’t his fault people had listened.  Chris was smiling his best smile though, winning Jensen over with his natural charm.  Jensen was laughing, more like himself and less the General now that they were out of harm’s way.

He looked at Jensen and Chris, thought about Jim back home in Egypt and smiled. 

“You know, once this is done,” he said, interrupting the two men just before Chris could tell the part where he stole into Jared’s shower and took all his clothes so he had to walk across the whole of the dig in nothing but a small towel.  “Jim and I were talking about a new site.”

“Really?”  The men asking in unison.

“Where?” Jensen asked.

“Ireland.”

Jensen threw his head back, laughing and Chris’s smile grew wider.  “Not my normal cup of tea but I can’t say I never wanted to visit Ireland.”

“Home of the druids,” Jensen said with a shake of his head.  He started to take a drink from his cup, but stopped it, raising it in toast instead. 

“To new adventures, may they come often and may you survive them all intact, with new friends at the end.”

Jared and Chris clinked their classes against Jensen’s.

“To new adventures.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped me with this. First, to the mods of the rpf_big_bang , I wouldn’t have written his story without this challenge, so thank you! Then to my betas who stepped in (all of them last minute since I suck like that) and helped me whip this story into shape. You guys all gave me something unique to look at! An extra thanks to alocine_89 who not only beta’d this, but who is an absolutely amazing cheerleader! She’s always such an encouraging voice when I’m talking about my fics! *hugs* And finally, to inanna_maat who, as always, produced so much amazing art for this. Not only did she do that, but she was a constant encouragement to me in this process. Thank you hon! I wouldn’t be half as excited about posting this story without your help and amazing art!


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